Supply and Demand
by SoWhatever
Summary: Ryou, Yugi, and Malik are all part of a human trafficking system. Kidnapped, beaten, and raped, the only thing they have left is hope. When Ryou finally escapes, how will things turn out for the three friends? RB YY MM (I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!)
1. Running Away

**SW: Whee! I'm gonna have fun with this one!  
Malik: Why are you writing this? You can barely finish one chapter in time for your update, how will you manage two?**

**SW: So anyways, I decided to try something new! Two stories at once! How does that sound?**

**Yugi: For you? Absolute murder.**

**SW: Speaking of murder…**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Malik walked up to the bars of his cell, holding back a smirk as the guards realized someone was missing. Wrapping his hands around two bars by his face, he peeked his head out slightly, his platinum blonde hair falling around his shoulders. "Looking for someone?"

"Prisoner 142 appears to have disappeared. Do you know anything about this?" The leader of the squad stepped forward and glared at the smug boy behind bars.

He shrugged and tapped his chin in thought, squinting his lilac eyes. "I might. You know, now that I think about it…_Ryou _did show me a hiding spot he thought he could use if he ever escaped…again."

The guard reached for his set of keys and moved to the lock. "Prisoner 118, you will show us where Prisoner 142 is hiding."

Malik smiled slowly and shook his finger at the guards. "No, I won't. Not until you use his real name."

The man rolled his eyes as he inserted the key and turned it, unlocking the door. "Fine. You will help us find…Ryou." He threw open the door and gestured for Malik to come out.

"There. Now was that so hard?" He calmly walked out of the cell, crossing his fingers at his side for luck as he walked down the hall. "This way."

All three followed, leaving behind the unlocked cell, already imagining the reward they would get for finding an escapee. Malik gave an almost inaudible sigh of relief as he turned the corner, winking to a boy with tri-colored hair as he passed his cell.

* * *

Ryou licked his lips nervously as he waited for the sounds to fade from the hallway. Slowly and carefully, he crawled out from under Malik's bed and made his way to the door the guards had left unlocked.

He walked out of the cell and stopped at a neighboring one, his brown eyes flicking back and forth. "I'll come back. I'll get help. I promise." With that, he ran off, sticking to the shadows and staying away from the cameras that were watching the corridors that led outside.

The boy with tri-colored hair, Yugi, stepped up to the bars of his cell and followed Ryou's white hair until it was out of sight. "Good luck, Ryou." He let his head rest against the cool bars and closed his amethyst eyes. "Be safe."

All around them, those three friends, were dozens of cells, each holding a prisoner, and each hoping for the same thing, that someone would come and save them.

* * *

Ryou ran away from the warehouse in the dimming light of sunset, frantic to get as far away from the place as he could. He turned a corner and looked around wildly, searching for something that would show him where he could go. Kami, he didn't even know if he was in the same city! He knew they were still in Japan though, he didn't remember traveling in an airplane or a boat, so they had to still be on the island country.

He kept running, past the abandoned, well, he hoped they were abandoned, houses, making random turns and taking back alleys in hopes to throw off anyone who might have been trailing him. He winced with every step, and he was sure that there were broken bottles digging onto the bottoms of his feet. But he kept running.

"Umph!" Ryou collided with a body and was sent to the ground, landing roughly on his bottom. Gulping and starting to shake with fear, he stared at the combat boots that were slightly covered by a pair of dark jeans.

"Well? Aren't you going to apologize?"

_He doesn't know. He doesn't know. He doesn't know. _Repeating that mantra over and over in his head, he followed the jeans up lean legs and over a dark purple shirt covered with a black leather jacket, finally meeting smirking purple eyes. His own eyes widening, he took in the similar platinum blonde hair and cocky expression before reminding himself that it was impossible for it to be Malik.

"S-Sorry, sir."

The man rolled his eyes and stepped around Ryou, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Whatever, kid. Just stay out of my way next time." The movement made his shirt slide up and revealed something that made Ryou scramble to stand up.

"W-Wait! You're police?"

He stopped in his tracks, looking down to his belt loop, where his badge was still attached. Scowling in annoyance, he removed it. "Not right now, kid. I'm off duty."

"Please!" He reached forward and grabbed the man's elbow, trying not to cower at the glare sent his way. "C-Can you at least take me to the station?"

Turning around to make certain the kid got the message that he wasn't to be messed with, he finally took in the boy's appearance. Dressed in a gray cotton tank top and shorts, he was just asking to be attacked in the oncoming night. His hair was white, much like his partner's, and was wind-blown and tangled. The boy's cheeks were flushed, like he had been running for a while, and to top it all off, he was barefoot! Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, he finished his inspection by meeting the doe brown eyes that were silently pleading him to help.

"Why do you want to go to the station?"

Ryou licked his lips and tried to keep his hope down, he was merely asking a question, it didn't mean he would help. "I-I just-I need help."

Running a hand over his face and sighing, he started walking in the opposite direction that he was headed. "Stop stuttering. It's pathetic."

Ryou watched him leave in confusion, wondering if he should follow or not. When the man didn't hear footsteps behind him he sighed again in annoyance and called over his shoulder. "I'm not slowing down, so keep up!"

Ryou's mouth turned up in a happy grin and he started off after the officer, before biting his lip to keep from whimpering with each step. The adrenaline had kept the pain away, but now that he was walking and he knew he would be safe, his feet were screaming in protest.

A few minutes of walking and the man looked behind him to see the boy trailing slowly after him, wincing with each step. He came to a halt and turned around, watching as the boy came to a sudden stop, looking around in confusion. "You could have told me about your feet, you know."

The boy blushed and looked down, lifting one foot to stare at the bloodied bottom. "I would have only slowed us down."

Again, he narrowed his eyes. What was so important that the kid needed to find help before he cared for himself? "Alright. Climb on my back."

The boy squeaked and looked up in surprise. "Wh-What?"

"You can't walk fast, and the sooner we get you to the station, the sooner I can go home." He swallowed and nodded his head, stepping closer as the man bent over to let Ryou climb on.

"Marik."

Ryou tilted his head as the man waited for him to climb on. "Huh?"

Marik stood up straight, Ryou hanging on with his arms around the man's neck, and started off again to the police station. "My name is Marik."

"O-Oh. I'm Pri-Ryou. My name is Ryou." Slapping himself mentally for almost calling himself a prisoner, Ryou clung to Marik tightly, glad to have some source of protection. Even though he could practically hear Malik screaming in his head not to trust anyone, he was willing to take a small risk if it meant he could get to safety and find help for his friends.

* * *

Bakura yawned, placed his feet on his desk, and threw another dart at the door, having it join the seven already there. He reached for another one and was about to throw it when he heard the door click. Changing his aim, he struck the frame of the door just as Marik walked in.

"Shit, Bakura! That could have been my face!"

He shrugged and picked up his last dart. "You're supposed to be off. I didn't know you were going to be walking in." Marik turned and closed the door behind him, and Bakura raised an eyebrow as doe brown eyes stared back at him. "Who's this?" He lifted his feet off the desk and faced the two, already going into interrogation mode.

Marik grunted and walked over to the chair in front of Bakura's desk, and Ryou dropped down onto it. "He's Ryou." He moved over to the side of the room, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

Sensing a change in the atmosphere, Ryou shifted a little in the chair, careful to make sure his feet didn't touch the floor. "H-Hello."

"Yo. So, what did you say to convince my stubborn-ass friend-"

"I resent that."

"-over here to bring you down to my office?" Bakura watched as Ryou fidgeted lightly, and his suspicion rose.

"I-I don't know. I just asked him to take me to the police station because I saw his badge."

Before Bakura could ask another question, a head of slightly curled blonde hair burst into the room and rushed over to Ryou. "I saw Marik bring you in, oh you poor thing!" She cooed over the boy and started checking him over, placing the first aid kit on the ground. "I even saw your feet, how long were you running barefoot, you adorable little man?"

Ryou blushed and looked away, trying not to wince as the woman gently started to care for his feet. "I don't know, maybe an hour or two. I didn't really keep track of time." He definitely felt more comfortable with this woman, who was tenderly wiping away the dried blood, than he did with Bakura and Marik, both of whom were scrutinizing his every movement. "My name is Mai, by the way. And don't let these assholes bother you, they just like to pick on people."

Bakura leaned over the desk to look at the bleeding feet before they were wrapped in a bandage by Mai. He frowned and leaned back, thinking about all the things that could make a kid like this run.

Patting Ryou's knee lightly, Mai stood, knowing not to stay too long if Bakura was in the middle of an interview. "There. Now, if you ever need anything, you just call for me, alright?"

Ryou nodded and watched out of the corner of his eye as the bustling lady left, before turning back to Bakura.

The man smirked and leaned forward, trying not to cackle as the boy leaned backwards in response. "Now, you're going to tell us exactly what happened, aren't you, kid?"

* * *

**SW: At least the two stories won't be overlapping too much. I mean, I'm just starting this one and Glowing Starlight is about to finish up. *falls backwards onto bed and pulls blanket up* Don't wake me up for a few days. I'm exhausted.**

**Malik: We tried to warn you.**

**Review please?**


	2. The Sheriff

**SW: Next chapter!  
Malik: It'll be easier now that you've finished Glowing Starlight.**

**SW: Yeah! Only problem…I've got tons of ideas for new stories!**

**Yugi: *facepalm* Perfect.**

**Thank you to Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (XD I'm glad you like it!), JapanT'sTheName (Yugi, Ryou and Malik aren't the criminals though…when the summary said they were part of a human trafficking system, I meant that they were the ones being 'trafficked'. And yep! Still Sundays!), and dplusjluv21 (Of course ;) I would never stop at the beginning of a story!) for reviewing!**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

"Malik!" Yugi ran to the side of his cage and knelt down as a bleeding and bruised Malik was thrown onto the floor of his cell. "Are you alright?"

Malik grunted and got to his hands and knees before slowly pulling himself up into his bed. "Fine, Yugi, just another day in hell. They wanted to punish me because they couldn't find Ryou."

Yugi stayed silent as a guard passed by their cells before continuing in a whisper. "Who was it this time?"

"The bastard Panik. The sadistic freak only got more excited when I started fighting back."

Wincing lightly at the tone, Yugi smiled a little, though it was weak. "Maybe they'll stop taking customers as a precaution."

Malik snorted, but didn't say anything, letting Yugi keep that small hope. He stared at the ceiling and listened to the guards patrolling the rows of cells. Stiffening when he heard the footsteps pause, he turned his head to see two stopped in front of Yugi's cage.

"Prisoner 327, you are to come with us."

Yugi bit his lip and shook his head, holding back a whimper. The guards opened the cage and walked in and Yugi curled up on his bed. "Please, no." They reached out and each grabbed one of Yugi's arms. "No!" He struggled and squirmed against their grip, trying to break free as they carried him out of the cell.

Malik closed his eyes and tried to ignore Yugi's calls, knowing he couldn't do anything. He hated feeling helpless. He turned on his side and opened his eyes to stare at the wall his cell was against. 'Hurry up, Ryou.'

* * *

"I'm waiting." Bakura leaned back in his chair as he watched the boy's eyes flicker back and forth. "Let's hear your story, kid."

Licking his lips nervously, Ryou nodded his head. "I-My name is Ryou Bakura and I was taken two years ago." Bakura's eyebrows rose at the amount of time. "I used to live in an apartment outside of Tokyo-"

"So how'd you get all the way to Domino? That's on the other side of the country." Bakura held back a growl as Marik interrupted the kid, but waited for Ryou's answer.

"I-I don't know. I was drugged and I can't remember much before I woke up in the warehouse."

This time Bakura stopped him from continuing. "Warehouse? You mean someone took you and they just dropped you off in a warehouse? How could you have not found a way out sooner?"

_That _got a response. Ryou frowned and anger flashed in his eyes for a moment before he deflated and stared at the ground again. "I was in a cage."

Bakura grunted and placed his arms behind his head. "So what'd they do to you in two years? No offense, but besides your feet, you don't look any worse for wear."

Ryou ducked his head down and hid behind his bangs. "The buyers were always warned never to scar the merchandise. Anything else was in the green." He wrung his hands together and looked back up to see Bakura staring at him emotionlessly. "There are other people, too. I don't know how many. But they are all sold like livestock. Please, they need help. We need help."

"Holy shit! This sounds like Millennium!" Marik stood up from the wall and stared at Ryou in shock. "How the hell'd you escape?"

Chewing his lip nervously, Ryou turned his head to stare up at Marik. "Uh, yes, they called themselves Millennium. I have a friend that helped me out. Two, actually. Yugi Motou and Malik Ishtar."

Bakura jolted up in his seat. "Did you just say Ishtar?" He met Marik's eye and the man nodded, leaving the room to go get the sheriff.

"Yes. We told each other our names so we wouldn't forget them. There are people who have been in there long enough that the only name they remember is their number." He watched Marik leave out the corner of his eye before looking at Bakura in confusion. "Where is he going?"

"To get someone." Bakura answered in a clipped voice, before leaning forward. "What was your number?"

Ryou winced and reluctantly answered. "I-I was Prisoner 142."

"What was Malik's?"

His brow furrowed and he looked at Bakura strangely. "Why would you want to know?" Ryou knew something wasn't right here, and it was making him feel uncomfortable.

"Just tell me." Knowing that he was pushing too hard, Bakura sat back and answered in a bored tone, as if he had all the time in the world and the answer didn't really matter.

"Prisoner 118. Malik was taken just a little before I was. He said he couldn't tell me how many days because he lost count."

The door slammed back open and Ryou jumped up in his seat, whipping around to stare as Marik came back in following a woman with long, black hair pulled into a ponytail. She took one look at Bakura before focusing on Ryou. "You said you saw Malik Ishtar?"

Licking his lips, Ryou nodded. "Yeah, he was in the cell across from me."

She scowled and crossed her arms. "I wouldn't attempt lying to me…"

"Ryou." Marik provided.

"Ryou. It wouldn't be in your best interest."

"Why would I lie to you?!" Ryou threw his arms up in exasperation. These were the police, right? Why weren't they helping? "My friends are stuck in cells and here I am talking to people who don't even believe me!"

The woman nodded her head. "Calm down. We'll help you. It's just that…Malik is my brother."

"Oh. Sorry." Ryou deflated, blushing in embarrassment. He looked up shyly at the woman. "You're Isis?"

The woman blinked and stared down at Ryou in shock. "You know me?"

Ryou smiled brightly and everyone in the room saw for a moment what made the criminals take this boy from his home. "Oh yes, Malik talked about you all the time. We all shared our stories, and Malik would never shut up about you." He tilted his head and took in the police uniform Isis was wearing. "But he said you were studying to be nurse, not a policewoman."

She sighed and reached up to tighten her ponytail in an absent motion that screamed 'habit'. "When Malik went missing…I wanted to be in a position where I could have the best resources to search for him, and the police force was it."

Marik snorted. "Yep, Isis took the entire branch by storm. You're looking at the youngest, and only female, sheriff ever to rule over the Domino Police Department."

Isis shrugged and smiling lightly in a way that shouldn't have been threatening, but sent chills down Ryou's spine. "The previous sheriff was a stiff, old man, it was only a matter of time until he passed the badge onto someone else." She nodded down to Ryou. "What else did Malik say about me?"

"Well, what he told me about your personality fits you perfectly. He always worried that you would ruin your life looking for him." Realizing how that sounded, he rushed forward with an excuse. "Not that joining the police force is ruining your life! It's just that, he told me that he almost hoped you had given up, that you would continue on with your life and get to the great things he knew you would do." Ryou smiled weakly when he saw Isis struggling to hold back tears. "He told me he could still hear your voice yelling at him the night he was taken. And since I was the one voted to be the runaway, if I ever got out, he told me to tell you that he's sorry."

"Voted?" Bakura drew attention away from Isis, who was staring at the wall above Marik's head with blurry eyes, letting the woman regain composure.

Ryou nodded. "Yeah, between Malik, Yugi, and I, we all voted that I would be the one running." He scowled and shook his head at the memory. "It was a two-to-one vote."

"Malik would be twenty-one now." Isis moved her eyes from the wall to stare at Ryou. "How old are you?"  
"I'm twenty. They made sure to take only those above the legal age." Ryou pouted lightly. "Of course, everyone there looks younger than they really are, it's what the buyers want."

"Marik, call Yami, Pegasus, and Mai. We're having a meeting. Bakura, be in the conference room in ten." With that, Isis left the room as abruptly as she came in.

Marik left to follow that order, leaving Bakura and Ryou to stare at each other in silence. After a moment of awkwardness passed, though only Ryou looked uncomfortable, Bakura leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, looking over the boy in front of him. "So…you're twenty."

Ryou nodded quickly, glad for something to break the silence. "Yes, I was in my first year of college when I was taken." Not exactly wanting to talk about his past with someone he barely knew, he changed the subject. "Everyone here looks pretty young to be in the police force, are you new?"  
Bakura shrugged and made a generalizing motion towards the door. "Yeah, when Isis became sheriff, she threw out-my bad, _retired_-all of the older officers, saying it was time for some new blood. Marik and I graduated from the academy together about a year ago, we're both twenty-three."

Ryou nodded and fidgeted lightly. "Do you think you'll be able to help my friends?"

"Can I trust you to stay in here?" Bakura ignored the question Ryou had asked and stood up, removing his gun from the bottom drawer of his desk. Even though it seemed like the kid was telling the truth, he always had a problem trusting people.

Ryou nodded, watching nervously as Bakura made his way to the door while strapping his gun into its holster. "I have nowhere else to go…" He mumbled, but it appeared that the officer didn't hear as he left, telling another officer to watch his office while he was gone. But Bakura did hear, he just didn't want to answer, not knowing what to say that would comfort Ryou. He knew what it felt like when you had nowhere to go.

* * *

**SW: O…M…R…I have absolutely no idea how I finished this on time!**

**Ryou: If you guys didn't know, SoWhatever is a diver, and she practices for two hours almost every day and has meets twice a week, so she's had to work into the early hours of the night to finish this chapter.**

**Yugi: Which has only made her more tired, which makes her coach make her stay later, which means she has to work even later to write, which makes her more tired…It's a vicious cycle.**

**SW: Plus, with homework and school and all that jazz, I have almost NO free time!**

**Anyways…review please!**


	3. The Plan

**SW: So…tired…can't…do…author's notes…**

**Thank you to TheGrandJester (Thank you, I'm glad you like it so far!), qqsha (Aw, thank you! I'm so glad it was realistic!), Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (XD I'm taking it from your review that you liked it? LOL, and it isn't really that hard…just tiring.), and Rapid Puzzleshipper Saiko (Thank you so much!) for reviewing!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"I'm sure you all know about Millennium, the human trafficking circle we've been trying to uncover for the last month or so." Isis paced in front of the five she had chosen to consider this case.

"Of course we do, sweetheart. Have you got a new lead?" Mai examined her nails before something occurred to her and she looked up in shock. "No…you don't mean that the adorable little man in Bakura's office is a part of that, do you?"

Isis nodded her head and met the eyes of each person in the room. "Yes, he claims that he escaped with help from…my brother."

Yami's eyes widened. "You mean that was who took him? All this time it was Millennium? We could've spent more time on the case if we had known that!"

Isis nodded slowly. "That doesn't matter now. What does matter is that we do have a lead and we need to make sure that nothing happens to him. So, we're going to rotate on who takes him home for the night until we can contact a family member."

Marik leaned back in his chair, balancing on the back two legs while lifting the front two off the ground. "And the people who aren't caring for the kid? What are they going to be doing?" Isis smiled cruelly in his direction and he felt a small trickle of dread run through his body.

"We need to find out where the headquarters is, and since you were the one who found Ryou, you are going to be going with Mai and Yami to canvas the area." Marik groaned and Isis' smile widened while she turned to look at Bakura and Pegasus. "Which one of you would like to take Ryou home for the first night?"  
Pegasus shrugged, using a hand to flip his long, silvery hair over his shoulder. "I guess I will. Better to get it over with, no?"

"You make it sound like torture." Bakura snorted and rolled his eyes, he had been about to volunteer, but Pegasus had beat him to it, and a small ball of disappointment was resting in his stomach, though he had no idea why.

Isis nodded and gestured to Bakura. "Then, Bakura and I will take the morning shift, Pegasus, bring Ryou to the station as early as possible, we'll be ready."

"What?!" Bakura straightened in his seat as everyone stood up to leave, Marik sticking out his tongue at Bakura. "That's worse than canvasing!"

But nobody listened to the complaint and left the room, since there had been an unspoken agreement that the meeting was over. Bakura growled at being ignored, but stood up to follow and watch Isis explain to Ryou what was happening and introduce him to Pegasus.

* * *

Ryou was bored. Bakura had only left fifteen minutes ago, but there wasn't much for the boy to do. He had already examined everything he could of the office that he could see from his chair, and was now looking at the ceiling and trying to count how many dart holes the albino policeman had made there. He hadn't wanted to move, in case his feet started bleeding again, and already his butt was sore from sitting too long. How much longer would they be gone?

He jumped a little in his seat as the door opened suddenly, and turned around to see Isis and Bakura walk in, followed by someone who made his body go numb. Maximillion.

He opened his mouth to scream, but before any sound come out, Maximillion made a motion to his hip and he saw the gun resting on his hip. The man moved a finger to his lip, narrowing his eyes threateningly. Ryou closed his mouth and swallowed roughly, before speaking, trying to think of a way to warn Isis and Bakura. "H-Hello."

Isis smiled and gestured behind her to Maximillion. "Hello, this is Officer Pegasus, Pegasus, this is Ryou." As she turned to back to Ryou, something caught her eye and she scowled at the sight of darts embedded into the wood of Bakura's door.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ryou." He's a police officer?! What's happening?  
"We're here to tell you what's going to happen tonight." Isis had moved and pulled all the darts out, giving a warning glance to Bakura before throwing them in the trash bin next to his desk. Ryou licked his lips, if Maximillion was a police officer and knew what the police force's plan was, how would he be safe? "Deputy Yami and Officers Marik and Mai are all going to canvas the area where Marik found you, and try and find out where their hide-out is. Officer Bakura and I will take the morning shift and will be here when you arrive tomorrow for a _real _questioning." She made a point to look at Bakura as she said that. "For now, since we know you are probably exhausted, Officer Pegasus will take you home for the might and bring you back tomorrow."

Ryou's eyes widened and he looked into each person's eyes, hoping that it wasn't true, but he found no indication that it was a joke. "A-Are you sure? I wouldn't want to be a burden…" I don't want to go home with that man. "Isn't there a small cell with a bed here? I could sleep there." Anywhere but with Maximillion.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all, Ryou. In fact, I imagine we're going to have a fabulous time tonight, don't you?"

Ryou squeaked and tried to meet the eyes of Bakura, but he was looking away. He switched to Isis, but she had already turned around, but Ryou had noticed that she had placed a pair of sneakers on the ground. He weakly smiled and looked up to thank her, but she was walking out of the room, and telling Maximillion to take him home. That was enough to wipe the smile off his face. He was so close, why did everything have to be ruined? He felt tears prick in his eyes, but moved to stand on his feet, feeling he had no choice. If Maximillion was a police officer, who would believe him if he told anyone the truth?

Ryou winced as his feet stung in pain, glad that he at least had bandages on them as he slipped them into the shoes given to him. Maximillion moved forward and placed a firm grip around Ryou's arm. "Come along now, Ryou. We want you to be safe, don't we?"

He whimpered lightly, small enough that even Bakura barely heard it. But he did. He whipped his head around from glaring at the wall to watch Pegasus pull Ryou out of the room. At the last second, Ryou turned around and mouthed a word that had Bakura narrowing his eyes in confusion. _Help._

Bakura scowled and turned back around, pretending to ignore him. The kid was paranoid, that's all. There was no reason to be afraid of Pegasus, even if he is a complete and total freak. He rolled his eyes and took off his holster and walked to his desk, pulling the darts that Isis had thrown into the empty trash bin and aiming one at the door. So what if Ryou was scared? It's not like Pegasus could do anything to him. Besides, if Ryou already knew him from somewhere, why wouldn't he have said anything?

He let the dart fly, striking the door and adding to the large number of holes already there. Then again, Pegasus did have his gun on him, and neither Isis nor Bakura had been looking at him, so maybe he was making threats? It sounded ridiculous, but what other reason would Ryou have to be scared? He had put complete trust in Marik, who can be one scary bastard when he wants to, just because he saw a police badge. That meant he wouldn't normally be afraid of police officers, right?

Swearing under his breath as his thoughts whirled around in his head, Bakura stood up, grabbed his gun and strapped the holster around his waist before grabbing his keys and walking out to the front door. Ignoring Isis when she asked where he was going, since he wasn't entirely sure himself, the man walked out and to his bike, making a note of the dark blue Sebring that was pulling out of the parking lot.

He slipped on a burgundy helmet and started up his black motorcycle, quickly following and making sure that there was always at least one car between them. He still had no idea what he was doing, or why he was doing it, but Ryou had asked for help and that seemed enough reason for him.

* * *

"Do you know who I am?" Maximillion asked, smirking when Ryou weakly nodded his head. "Good. That saves us the introductions. I, of course, know who you are as well, Prisoner 142."

Ryou shivered, he had hoped never to hear that number again. "P-Please don't hurt me."

The man cooed and reached over to caress the side of Ryou's face, ignoring how he flinched away. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." He smiled coldly and pulled his hand away to place it on the steering wheel, not looking at the one next to him. "I'm going to kill you."

A small, choked sob tore itself out of Ryou's throat and the first of many tears trickled down his face, but Maximillion kept talking. "Of course, we might have a little fun first, and that won't hurt because I know you've done it before."

Ryou couldn't listen, he didn't want to. The man was only trying to get to him, and it was working. He sniffed and wiped at his eyes, trying to stop the flow of tears. He needed to be strong for Malik and Yugi. "Wh-Why-How are you a po-police officer?"

Maximillion shrugged and smiled lightly, as if they were friends and having a pleasant conversation. "You'd be surprised how far a fake id and credentials will get you. I needed to be inside there, so I could sabotage any leads if they got too close. Of course, I've only been here six dull months, but they trust me." His smile changed to a smirk. "Idiots."

He took a turn, going into a private neighborhood, scanning a card to make the road block lift so he could pass. He didn't notice the motorcycle that went under it behind him. He kept driving, until he reached the very back of the subdivision, where a large mansion sat waiting.

"See what profits I've made? Five years ago, this wouldn't have been possible." He placed his gun on the divider between the seats, a silent warning, before reaching over and unbuckling Ryou. The albino froze, staring at the gun and not even registering when Maximillion got out the car and walked around to his side. Only when his vision was cut off did he realize that Maximillion was no longer in the car with him.

Tying the blindfold a little too tightly, Maximillion yanked Ryou out of the car and lead him to the house. He tripped and stumbled, catching himself from falling multiple times before he was pushed up some stairs and let go of, before hearing a large door being unlocked and opened. He couldn't see a thing and he couldn't hear Maximillion. Maybe the man had gone inside to get something? No one was restraining him, so maybe he should try to run?

He reached up to the blindfold slowly, listening for any sounds of approach, and gently started to tug at the tight knot that kept it around his head. Suddenly, he heard the click of a safety being turned off, and the cold barrel of a gun was placed against his neck. Ryou stiffened and licked his lips, before slowly letting his hands fall to his sides.

"Good boy." Maximillion put slight pressure on the back of Ryou's neck, smirking as he began to walk forward, not wanting to be in anymore contact with the gun. As the two slowly made their way into the house, he closed the door behind him, watching as Ryou shivered at the sound of the only known escape route being cut off. "Now we can have some fun."

* * *

Bakura swore as Pegasus shut the door to his house. He had parked at the end of the street, and had walked the rest of the way, but he hadn't missed the glint of the gun Pegasus had grabbed from his car as he pushed Ryou into the house. What the hell was he doing?

His radio squawked and he rolled his eyes as Yami's voice came over the bulky device he had slipped into his pocket at the last minute, taking it from the bag at the side of his motorcycle. "Bakura, get back to the station right now! Isis is throwing a-" The annoyed tone was silenced as Bakura switched the radio off.

Standing up from where he was crouched behind a bush, he stretched and made his way around the house, looking for an opened or unlocked entry, window or door, that he could get in through. Whatever Pegasus thought he was doing, Bakura was going to stop it.

* * *

**SW: Ugh. I hate ending my chapters talking about how tired I am.**

**Malik: Maybe you should quit dive.**

**SW: Never! I love that sport! Anyway…see you next chapter!**

**Review please! (And I kept referring to Pegasus as Maximillion because that was what Ryou knew him by.)**


	4. Two Steps Back

**SW: Ok, so I looked at the preview of my story, and I am really really sorry! Apparently some of my line dividers aren't working!  
Malik: Why did none of you mention this?**

**SW: I'm working on trying to figure it out and fix it, sorry!**

**Thank you to Awesometamez (Thank you! And I could never skip an update without a legitimate reason [and I don't count being tired as one]), Rapid Puzzleshipper Saiko (Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it!), White Weasel (Oh, the suspense! Sorry but you'll just have to wait ;) and thank you for following I appreciate it!), and 3789976 (Hehe, I'm glad you like it!) for reviewing!  
Enjoy!**

* * *

"Damn it!" Marik swore as he stumbled over a scrap of wood in the empty warehouse he was searching. Scowling lightly and lifting his foot up to rub it though his shoe, he looked around. There was no sign that anyone had been in here in the last fifteen years, the same as all the other warehouses he had been in. He walked out and started down the street, looking for the next warehouse he would have to check.

"Hey, sweetheart, Yami and I haven't found anything. Meet us back at the corner of Houghton and Glacier." Marik almost gave a cry of joy as Mai's voice drifted over his radio. Thank Ra he wouldn't have to do any more canvasing, it was just so _dull_.

He picked up the walkie talkie to respond, before a large warehouse on the corner of the street caught his eye. Rolling his eyes, he started to walk towards it, knowing the way Isis would react if she learned that he left before checking as many warehouses as he could. "Fine. I'll be there in a minute, just gonna check this last one."

Yami's sarcastic voice answered. "Marik? Doing extra work? It's a miracle!"

"Shut up, Yami. Go kiss up to Isis some more." He smirked widely as the radio failed to give a response and walked into the warehouse.

* * *

"Shit, Ryan, it's a cop!" Yami stiffened as a new voice filtered in through the radio. "Why the hell would you knock him out?"

As soon as he had heard that, Yami took off running. Mai whipped around as Yami ran past her, and followed once she saw the urgency he was running with. "What's happening?"

The radio answered for him as the two ran down the street. "It's not like it matters. Just take the badge off him and ditch him in an alley after finishing the job."

There was a crackle of static as Yami and Mai turned a corner, but they heard the two talking over it. "Why do I have to be the one to do it?...What's that noise?"

"Move him over…Fuck! He's got a radio!" They entered the part of town Marik had been searching, and paused, trying to figure out what direction he was in. "Someone has to be listening for it to be making static like this! Ok, screw the plan, just drug him and take him to the van while I get the two new ones we got." There was crack and a second later the radio went silent.

Yami growled and looked around, trying to find some indication of where Marik was. Mai started running down the sidewalk, frantically searching. A minute later, there was a squeal of tires and the two saw a gray van turn onto the street they were on, before turning again onto a side street.

They took off again, trying to catch up with the vehicle that they were almost positive had Marik inside, but it was too fast. Yami slowed to a stop while Mai kept going, only stopping when she realized Yami wasn't with her. "Come on, they've got Marik, we have to catch them!"

His stomach turned, but Yami shook his head. "There's nothing we can do right now. We need to get back to the station and tell Isis, and then we can get a larger search party going. At least we know we're in the right place."

"What about the warehouse they were in before?"

Yami shook his head again. "I think it was just a holding place before they took their prisoners to their real center of operation."

Biting her lip nervously, Mai looked over in the direction the car had sped off in. "Alright, let's go tell Isis."

Yami cracked his knuckles and the woman shivered at the deadly look in his eyes. "Then, once we found the bastards, we can have some fun."

* * *

Ryou whimpered and struggled weakly as his hands were forced behind his back and tied behind the chair he had been shoved in. As his legs were also bound to the chair, Ryou took a deep breath. He would be strong. Even though his blindfold was already damp with tears, he decided that he would not die crying.

He started to shake when he felt the gun pressed against his neck again, but he didn't make a sound. It would only give Maximillion more satisfaction.

There was a muffled crash that seemed to come from the other end of the house and Maximillion swore. Footsteps left the room and Ryou could only guess that it meant he was going to check it out. What had happened?  
Suddenly, there were hands on the back of his head, nimbly untying the blindfold and moving to the rope around his wrists. Looking behind him, his eyes widened in shock at the person he saw unraveling the rope from his arms. "Bakura?"

"Shut up." The rope fell to the floor and he walked around the chair to get to one of Ryou's legs. Ryou flexed his wrist before bending over to get his other one. "I distracted Pegasus, but I don't know how long he'll be away." Once Ryou was free of all the rope, he grabbed one of his hands and pulled him into a standing position. "Stay quiet and follow me."

Ryou nodded and Bakura let go of his hands, starting to walk out of the room, Ryou following behind closely. Pegasus turned a corner and saw Bakura just as he was exiting the room. "You!" Bakura turned and swore when he saw Pegasus there.

"Run, Ryou!" Ryou listened immediately, running down the hall in the opposite direction of Maximillion. Squeaking and covering his head when he heard a gun go off, Ryou ran through the house, trying to find his way out without becoming totally lost. Turning into a room when he reached a dead end, the albino whipped his head back and forth to try and find somewhere he could escape. Cheering a little inside his head as he found an open window in the room, Ryou sprinted over to it and started to climb out.

"Oh no, you don't!" Ryou screamed as a shot hit the frame of the window by his hand. Losing his balance, he took one look behind him as Maximillion stormed into the room before he fell out of the window. Wincing as his body hit the ground, he rolled, just missing being hit by the bullet Maximillion sent out the window after him.

Scrambling to his feet, Ryou took off, trying not to scream as another bullet struck next to his heel. He ran around the house, screeching to a halt when he saw Maximillion waiting for him at the front.

Ryou heard a grunt and saw Maximillion fall to the side as Bakura tackled him. "Bike's down the road! Run!" Bakura threw a punch at Maximillion's chin, knocking his head back.

Sucking in a deep breath of air, Ryou started running again. Not even hesitating when he saw the black motorcycle with the key still in its ignition, Ryou hopped on and started it up. He kicked up the kickstand and pushed off the ground, speeding back to the house.

His mouth all but dropped when he saw Maximillion being shoved into the passenger side of his car; handcuffed, bruised, and bloody. Blinking slowly to try and process the situation, Ryou pulled up to the side of the car slowly.

Bakura walked around the car and raised an eyebrow at Ryou, a small smirk growing on his face. "You can drive a motorcycle?"

Ryou nodded his head numbly. "What just happened?" He took in Bakura's rumpled form and the darkened spot on the leg of his jeans. "You're bleeding!"

"It's just a scratch. The bullet only grazed me." He moved to the driver side and opened the door. "I don't want you in the car with this bastard, so just follow me back to the station alright?" Before waiting for an answer, he slid into the seat and started the car, glaring at the man next to him.

A shiver went down Ryou's spine and he turned the motorcycle around as the car pulled out of the driveway. Everything was happening so quickly, and he didn't know how to react. He swallowed roughly and followed the car down the road.

The ride seemed a lot quicker than it had when he was with Maximillion and in no time he was back at the police station. He pulled in next to Bakura and parked the bike, slipping the keys into his pocket before quickly following as Bakura shoved Maximillion towards the entrance.

His mind was still numb when Mai rushed to his side and led him to a seat, checking over his vitals to make sure nothing was wrong. As she felt the back of his head for lumps, she brought up a question that everyone in the station was wondering as Bakura kicked Pegasus in the back of the knees to get him walking to the interrogation room. "So, cutie pie, how come you didn't tell any of us that you knew Pegasus?"

Ryou licked his lips and looked down at his lap. "None of you would've believed me."

Before Mai could answer, Isis stormed into the room, Yami following right after her. "What's happening?"

Bakura came back from making sure Pegasus was secure, brushing away Mai when she tried to examine his leg, and leaned against the wall. "Pegasus is a part of Millennium. He tried to kill Ryou."

"And now that Marik has been captured…"

"What?" Bakura looked at Mai with cold eyes, even though you couldn't see the worry in him, everyone knew that the two friends cared for each other.

"Marik went into a warehouse and was ambushed by two members of Millennium." Isis sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. "The only reason they didn't kill him is because they saw his radio and knew that someone was listening in. They probably took him to their base. We don't know if they'll keep him alive or not."

Bakura growled and scowled at the ground, this time not pushing Mai away when she moved to tend to his wound, since he was too distracted with his thoughts. "They had better. For their sakes, there shouldn't be a single, crazed hair on that idiot's head harmed. Leave it to Marik to get kidnapped."

"I'm sure he'll be alright." Ryou smiled weakly, feeling out of place in this group of friends. "I don't think they'll kill him."

"Right. Well, we're going to need you, Ryou." He stiffened as Isis approached him and looked at him seriously. "Pegasus isn't going to respond to any of us, so you're going to have to be the one to interview him."

* * *

Malik looked at the cell across from him, where someone who looked almost identical to him was occupying the cell that used to be Ryou's. It made him wonder about the little albino who both he and Yugi had thought escaped. What if he was found and was put into a different cell? They would have no way of knowing, they could be cradling a false hope for all they knew.

He looked over at Yugi, who was curled up in a bloody mess on his bed, not having changed into the clothes the guards had left for him. Turning back to the man across from him, he tried not to smirk as he groaned, obviously waking up from a drugged sleep.

The guy sat up and blinked open dark lavender eyes. Malik was shocked for a moment at how far the similarities between them went, but didn't let it bother him. As the man ran a hand through his hair and looked around to see where he was at, Malik thought he'd give him a little intro.

"Yo. Welcome to hell."

* * *

**SW: I got henna!  
Ryou: Really?**

**SW: Yeah! It's a female lotus and it stands for beauty and energy! I got it at the Renaissance Festival! (I think that gives a little hint as to where I live, but whatever)  
Malik: Too bad it faded like two weeks too early because you're in a pool all the time.**

**SW: *pout* Way to be a Debbie Downer.**

**Review please!**


	5. Interview

**SW: Hello all!**

**Ryou: SoWhatever really likes this story!**

**SW: Yep, and if you guys want, go check out my new songfic thingy! I've got so many ideas that I just decided to put them all in one place!**

**Yugi: It won't be updated once a week though, just as quickly as she can write them. Reviews help with the inspiration though!  
Thank you to White Weasel (Yeah…and who knows? Haha you'll find out this chapter!), Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (Of course I'll bronzeship! ;) and I'm going to go a little into Ryou's past in this chapter, so maybe there'll be a reason sweet little Ryou can ride a bike), calleyrose (Thank you so much!), and Unanimous (I'm glad you like it! **** And I don't plan to stop writing anytime soon!) for reviewing!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Why does Ryou have to be the one to do this?" Bakura growled out, watching through the one-way window as Ryou fidgeted under Pegasus' glare. "I'm sure I could get him to talk."

"Aw, does Bakura have a little crush?" Although they were trying to ignore the fact that there wasn't an insane cackle after that comment, everyone's mood dampened. Yami winced and returned his gaze to look at Ryou. "Sorry, but I think Ryou's the best choice in getting information out of Pegasus, he's the only one directly connected to Millennium."

Bakura rolled his eyes, scowling at the glass that separated him from Ryou. "Whatever."

The sound of a phone slamming down was heard down the hall, followed by the angry clip of heels as they stormed to the interrogation room. Isis came up to the window and stood next to Bakura. "I've called three different numbers and no one answered! How hard is it to get a hold of a family member?"

"Could they be dead?" Mai asked from her position next to Yami, the two of them leaning against the wall across from the window. "Or maybe the number isn't used anymore? He did say he was taken two years ago."

"No…it isn't that. All three phone numbers went through. One seemed to be a home phone and another a cell phone, both had Ryou talking on the answering machine, and the last was a work phone, the man on the voicemail is probably Ryou's father, but he never answered."

That information hit Bakura like a bucket of cold water. Ryou wouldn't be staying. Hell, he probably didn't want to. The kid probably wanted to just get this over with and leave with his family. His scowl deepened and he focused all his attention on the two in the interrogation room, drowning out the other three as they started to discuss what else they could do to get a hold of relatives of Ryou. His eyes widened and his jaw went loose as he observed Ryou interrogating, and one by one, everyone else saw what he was doing and a mix of admiration and shock went through the group.

* * *

Ryou shivered as Maximillion's gaze wandered over his body. "So, why did they send you in, hm? You couldn't possibly expect to get any information from me."

Taking a deep breath, Ryou called on skills that probably attracted his kidnappers in the first place. He let his eyelids lower and reached a hand up to twirl a piece of his hair around a finger. "Well…actually, I requested it, Mr. Maximillion." He let his voice drop to a husky whisper and licked his lips slowly, jumping with victory inside his head when he saw Maximillion's gaze darken and flit between his eyes and lips. He already knew the man was guilty, now he just needed him to admit it. The people outside had no idea how involved the man was, but Ryou was going to show them.

"Oh, really?" Pegasus leaned back in his chair, and if his hands weren't handcuffed beneath the table they would be behind his head. "Call me Pegasus."

Ryou thought of the time he accidently forgot his lines during dress rehearsal and blushed lightly, he knew that it was because of the memory, but Pegasus didn't. He leaned over the table and looked at Pegasus with a small smile. "Alright. You know…I always did kind of like it at Millennium."

Pegasus' eyebrows rose, before he smirked. "I can make it ten times better."

"Before, when we were in the car and at your house, I thought we were role-playing and it sent a rush through my body." Ryou leaned in closer, their noses inches apart. "I'd love to feel that again." He had a bitter, metallic taste in the back of his mouth, but he swallowed against it, it wouldn't help if he puked all over Pegasus.

"Really?" Pegasus smiled wide and giggled, and Ryou knew from other people's stories that it meant he was turned on.

He couldn't stop. Not yet. Even though it made him gag in his throat, Ryou reached up and brushed a strand of hair from Pegasus face. "Your customers never did give me what I wanted."

Pegasus laughed again and nodded his head. "But of course, the business I run sells to people who would never consider their partner's pleasure, but I would be happy to oblige."

"No thanks. I already got everything I need." He smiled and stood up, walking to the door.

There was a moment of silence as the whole situation processed, before Pegasus gave a cry of outrage.

Sprinting the rest of the way and quickly closing the door behind him, Ryou sheepishly looked at the shocked faces waiting for him. After a moment of silence, Ryou fidgeted and turned his attention to the ground. "That was on video, right?"

"What just happened?" It was Yami who found his tongue first, his mind still not entirely connecting what had happened in the interrogation room.

Ryou looked up at the man and smiled lightly. "Father wanted me to major in Law," his smile turned sad, "but I had a tiny rebellious stage and changed it to Theatre without him knowing. I was a pretty good actor and singer and was a lead in "The Wizard of Oz" before they took me. Will he go to jail now?"

"All this time..." Isis turned from where she had been standing at the window, watching Pegasus yell threats into the empty room. "All this time, he knew where Malik was, and watched me wonder about it every day." The sheriff shook her head as if she still couldn't comprehend it. "I trusted him and he was the one who was running the operation that took my brother. I need a minute." She walked down the hall and into her office.

Yami ran a hand over his face and looked over at Ryou, who was fidgeting lightly, staring after Isis. "Don't worry about her, she'll be fine in a few moments. Pissed off as hell, but fine." He moved to go to his office. "I have some paperwork to fill out before we book Pegasus."

Mai smiled over at Ryou and walked over to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and placing a small kiss on his cheek, almost squealing at the cuteness of the resulting blush. "So, sweetheart, you had a rebellious stage?"

Ryou's blush deepened and he smiled a little. "Yeah, I might have been a little angry at Father for forcing me into Law, so I did all the things he said I could never do, I learned how to ride a motorcycle, changed my major to Theatre, and went to pubs every Friday night, which might not have been very smart, since that was where Millennium found me."

Quickly changing the subject, Mai unwrapped her arm from Ryou's shoulder and reached down to grab his hand, squeezing it gently. "While you were in there Isis had been trying to contact family members, but no one was answering, mind explaining, cutie-pie?"

Ryou nodded, letting Mai lead him out into the lobby and over to a phone, Bakura following behind them, having not said a word since he had come out of the interrogation room. "Well, it's almost eleven at night here, right?" Mai nodded her head. "That means that it's probably around seven in the morning where Father is at, he would just be waking up, and he normally sleeps pretty soundly so his phone ringing wouldn't have woken him up. And the other numbers you have are probably my cell phone and my apartment number, so don't expect an answer there." Ryou frowned a little. "I wonder if anyone in Tokyo noticed I left, maybe my apartment is being rented out to someone else…"

"You mean your father didn't live with you?" It was the first thing Bakura said, and it was full of judgment. "He let an eighteen-year-old boy stay in a big city on his own?"

Ryou pouted. "Father had his reasons, he had accepted a job in California and I had been accepted into the University of Tokyo, so we had to go separate ways. I wasn't a child, I could handle myself."

Bakura rolled his eyes and laughed coldly. "Obviously."

"Shut up! You don't know anything about me!" Mai swallowed roughly as Bakura glared at the boy, not many people were brave enough to stand up to him. Mumbling something about checking up on Pegasus, she quickly left the room.

"I know you certainly had no problem seducing Pegasus." Bakura smirked as Ryou stiffened up immediately.

"I was trying to get him to admit guilt! And it worked! That's better than what you would've gotten!"

Bakura growled and stared down Ryou, who met his glare with equal fire. "Why don't you just go fuck Mai already?"

The younger albino stepped back in shock, his mouth forming an 'o', before it changed into a smug smile. "You're jealous." The smile widened, this time accompanied by a slight blush, when Bakura scoffed in denial.

Rolling his eyes, Bakura crossed his arms, looking over to the door. "Please. Why the hell would I be jealous?"

Ryou took a step forward, his smile growing even wider when Bakura took a step back. "C'mon, 'Kura, don't you think I'm cute?" He fluttered his eyes and pulled out his pout. He knew he was being a little forward with his flirting, he could feel the burning sensation that signaled his face was red, but it was fun.

"No. Now shut up."

"Okay, Officer Bakura." He gave a mock salute and skipped over to the door. "But just so you know, I think you're kinda-"

Mai burst through the door, sending Ryou to the ground. "Pegasus has escaped!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ **(SW: I might start doing this more often because the line things aren't working for me)**

Marik glared at the wall, turning to punch his pillow as he heard another scream echo through the warehouse.

"It won't help any to get angry, besides, you'll get used to the sounds soon enough." Marik looked over at the blonde in the cell across from him, before looking over at the next one over.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Yugi? He's always a little bummed after…anyways, he just needs to get his thoughts together, he'll be okay in a few moments." Malik hated brushing his concern for Yugi aside, but he knew the boy didn't like people to focus on him when he was like this, so he tried his best to draw attention back to himself.

"How long's he been here?" Yugi…that name sounded so familiar. Where had he heard it?

"Only about six months, he's still pretty affected by the whole 'buyer' thing."

Yes! The kid Ryou had mentioned a Yugi when he asked who helped him, so if that was Yugi, then this must be… "You're Malik." His voice sounded numb even to his own ears as he stared down the entire reason Isis was so uptight.

Malik took a defensive position, his entire body tensing up. "Who wants to know?"

"My name is Officer Marik. I know your sister."

Malik stood up from his bed and practically ran to the bars of his cell, pressing against them to try and get closer to the man who mentioned his sister. "You know Isis? How? Is she alright?"

Smirking a little at the response, Marik nodded his head. "She's sheriff here in Domino."

"So we're still in Domino…Hear that Yugi? We didn't leave Domino City." Turning back to Marik after he had looked over at his friend, Malik explained his last statement. "Both of us are from around here, so it's nice to know we won't have to travel far to go home." His eyes lit up slightly. "You're a police officer? Have you seen an albino about this height," he held up a hand a little below his head, "with big brown eyes? His name's Ryou."

"Yeah, he's why I was searching warehouses." Marik leaned back and watched as Malik relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. "He ran into me, literally, and I took him to the station, where he met Isis. He's okay."

Malik sighed again, letting his breath rush out of his mouth in a long gust. "He did it. He actually did it."

"I'm happy. That means we'll be able to leave soon, right?" A soft voice spoke up, and the two blondes looked over at Yugi, who had changed into cleaner clothes and was staring hopefully at the slightly more intimidating version of Malik.

Marik nodded. "Now that they're holding a cop captive, it won't be long until this place is busted." He smiled sadistically and his eyes flashed. "I can't wait."

* * *

**SW: I've started college applications!**

**Malik: And SoWhatever's eyes are bleeding!**

**SW: For any of you who have ever filled out an application (online or otherwise), you will understand how repetitive every single one of those Ra-damned things are!**

**Bakura: Can I burn them?**

**SW: Alas, I am doing mine online, otherwise striking the match would've been no problem for me.**

**Pretty please review!**


	6. Taken

**SW: Motivation for author's notes has decreased greatly…**

**Bakura: *smirk* Guess that means we'll have to take over. **

**SW: No no! That's alright really! We don't need to scare the readers!**

**Thank you to HipsterL (Squee! I'm so glad you like it!), calleyrose (I know right? Ryou is adorable! Thank you for the review!), Awesometamez (Don't worry I'll explain Pegasus in this chapter and yeah…Marik's gonna be having some fun.), Rapid Puzzleshipper Saiko (You'll find out~ ;) I'm glad you liked it!), Guest (Thank you for reviewing! And yeah, Pegasus is going to cause some problems for the gang), and Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!) for reviewing!**

**Hope you like!**

* * *

Isis paced across the room, watched by everyone there. In front of the group was a small television screen, replaying a scene from the security camera over and over. Officer Keith had entered the room soon after Bakura, Ryou, and Mai had left, and had walked into the interrogation room.

A moment later, he exited with Pegasus, who turned and smirked at the camera before leaving the room, walking in the opposite direction than where the others had left. A few seconds later and Mai reappeared, and as soon as she saw Pegasus missing, she flipped, and ran back out of the room to go get everyone else.

"I always knew there was something wrong with that Keith guy." Bakura leaned back in his seat next to Ryou, scowling at the ceiling.

Ryou leaned forward and watched the tape replay again, examining every second of it. "I don't recognize the man who helped Pegasus, he was never at the warehouse."

"It doesn't matter now." Yami, always the logical one, stood up from where he was leaning against the table. "We're tired, stressed, and too pissed off to do anything productive. I say we go home and get some rest, then find out where Millennium is in the morning."

Mai sighed and stood up as well, her mouth widening in a yawn. "I think that's for the best." She rushed forward when Isis opened her mouth to protest. "Now, Sherriff, we understand that you want to find your brother, and we all want Marik back, annoying ass that he is, but we won't be able to function if we don't get some rest." She put her hands on her hips and stared Isis down. "What would Malik think if you showed up to save him, but collapsed from exhaustion?"

"He'd laugh." Isis mumbled, but ran a hand over her face and tightened her ponytail. "But then he'd yell at me for pushing myself too hard." She nodded her head and started to the door. "I expect to see you all bright and early."

Yami was already walking out after her with his jacket over his shoulder. "See you guys later."

Bakura was at the doorway with Mai right behind him, but he stopped when he heard Mai's heels come to a halt, then swivel to face the last person in the room. "Sweetie-pie, do you plan on sitting there all night?"

He could practically hear Ryou fidget and look down at his hands, Bakura would bet anything that one of those blushes was on his cheeks again. "O-Oh, well, I was just going to ask one of the other officers to unlock the jail cell for me so I could sleep on the mat there. I wouldn't want to be a burden."

"You could always come home with m-"

Scoffing lightly and rolling his eyes, the older albino turned around to face Mai and Ryou. "He's already coming home with me."

The blush Bakura had already known was on Ryou's cheeks deepened. "Re-Really, tha-thank you, but I'm perfectly fine with staying here." He licked his lips nervously and looked to Mai for help.

Mai gave a wide smile, sure she might like Ryou a little bit, but Bakura never warmed up to anyone this quickly. Really, it had only been a couple hours and already Bakura was protective. Shrugging lightly to show she could do nothing once Bakura had his mind set, she skipped out of the room, waving over her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ryou!"

"C'mon. I want to go home."

Ryou fiddled with his hands and nodded his head. "Then you should go. I really don't want to be a burden."

"You're trying my patience, kid." Bakura took a step closer to Ryou as if that would convince the boy to stand up and leave with him.

"I'm not a kid!" And Ryou did stand up, if only to stubbornly meet Bakura's eyes square on.

Bakura smirked. "Then prove it and let me to take you home." He crossed his arms and glared lightly at the younger albino. "It's not like I'm going to hurt you."

Ryou pouted and shook his head. "Just stop being annoying and leave already. I'll be fine."

"Oh,_ I'm _annoying? Says the kid pulling a bunch of bullshit about wanting to sleep in a cell."

"Stop saying I'm a child!" Ryou ran a hand through his hair in frustration and looked at Bakura. He had never been so aggravated by one person before, and it felt strange to snap at someone. Normally he was polite and kind, but Bakura just rubbed him the wrong way. How could anyone be so crude and aggressive? It didn't matter if he thought the man was attractive, the officer had no manners.

"Then stop acting like one!" Bakura took a step closer and straightened his shoulders, he wasn't leaving without Ryou.

"I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Oh, wow, great comeback." Ryou rolled his eyes sarcastically and looked up at Bakura, a light blush covering his cheeks as he noticed how close Bakura had gotten.

Bakura seemed to have noticed too as he took a step back, but not before grabbing Ryou's hand and dragging him out of the room and to the exit, ignoring Ryou's protests. "Bakura! Stop! I said I'd be fine here!" In no time they were outside, standing in front of Bakura's bike. Pouting lightly, Ryou reached into his pocket and handed over the keys he had forgotten to return earlier. "Here. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back inside." He had no idea why he was being so stubborn, but the thought of staying at the man's house sent chills down his spine, and they were making him feel weird.

"No." Bakura lifted the seat of the bike up, pulling a burgundy helmet out of the storage compartment and handing it over. "Put that on. I drive fast."

Ryou scowled lightly, but shoved the helmet on. After making sure the strap was around his neck, he moved over and mounted the bike, crossing his arms and staring straight ahead. Bakura smirked, even though the tinted visor of the helmet was covering Ryou's face, he knew the kid was pouting. He lifted one leg over the side and straddled the bike, starting it up and almost sighing at the purr that ran through it.

"I would hold on." He didn't give Ryou time to react as he drove forward, the wind rushing around his body as he sped out of the parking lot. He thought he heard a small squeak, and felt arms wrap around him tightly, squeezing harder whenever he took a turn. Rolling his eyes but lightening up on the gas, Bakura turned down one final road before driving up to his house.

He turned the car off, and sat for a moment, waiting for Ryou to release the death grip he had around his waist. "We're here."

Ryou peeled his eyes open slowly, and blushed when he realized that he was still holding onto to Bakura. Mumbling an apology, Ryou released the elder before shakily getting off the bike. Bakura was already walking up to the door, and Ryou hastily took off the helmet and put it under the seat before running to catch up with the man as he walked through the doorway of his house. The older man walked straight to the couch and sat down, turning on the TV and completely ignoring his guest. Ryou sighed and looked around at the house, which was littered with dirty clothes and half-full chip bags. How the house didn't reek was a mystery to Ryou, but it was still a shock to see the mess. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Marik stared at the sleeping boy in the cage across from him. The lights had long since been turned off, but Marik's eyes had quickly adjusted and he could just make out the platinum blonde hair in the dark. He closed his eyes in another attempt to fall asleep, to no avail. Growling lightly, he sat up and crossed his arms, trying to figure out something he could do.

"It's alright if you can't fall asleep, you know. I couldn't either for my first few nights."

Marik looked to the cell next to Malik's, surprised to see amethyst eyes staring back at him. Yugi hadn't said after he woke up, the small boy just staring in between Malik and Marik as they talked.

Silence followed, Marik wasn't entirely sure how to answer that, and it was another few minutes before Yugi spoke up again. "Do you like Malik?"

A slightly crazed smile grew on Marik's face, and Yugi would've shivered if he could see it. "He's hot."

Yugi giggled lightly at the response, his hand covering his mouth so it wouldn't make too much noise and attract guards. "I think he likes you too."

Before Marik could answer, the lights switched on, causing groans to echo through the entire warehouse as people were rudely awakened. Marik and Yugi blinked against the sudden change in lighting, and Malik grumbled lightly before throwing his blanket over his head and falling back asleep.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway and Yugi stiffened as they came closer. Scrambling up into his bed from where he had been sitting on the floor, he curled under the blanket, hoping they weren't coming for him. Marik glared as the first guard appeared, followed by two more and another man that sent fire burning through his body.

"Pegasus." Marik hissed out and walked to the front of his cell, gripping the bars and ignoring the gasp from Yugi as he peeked his head out and stared in horror at the silver-haired man that had stopped in front of their cages. "Why the hell are you here?" He glared at the man, and smirked when he saw the guards back away slightly.

The man shrugged and pointed to Malik's cage, letting the guards open it before turning to face Marik. "I'm merely doing business, Marik."

"Malik, wake up! Maximillion is here!" Malik groaned as Yugi yelled at him, before jolting up as the words connected in his head. He looked over and saw three guards approaching him and swore.

Ignoring the protests from both Yugi and Malik, though the blonde's were much more hands-on and violent, the three guards lifted Malik up, but not before Malik got a few hits in, and carried him out of his cell. Pegasus smirked at the sight of the struggling boy, and took out a small needle.

Marik growled and his hands tightened around the bars as Malik only struggled more when Pegasus approached him. The man jabbed the needle into Malik's neck and the boy whimpered as drugs rushed through his systems and he went limp. Without another word to Marik, Pegasus turned around and left, the three guards following, one of them carrying Malik, the two others rubbing at the sore spots Malik had hit.

Yugi sobbed lightly and wrapped his arms around his knees, bringing them up into his chest. Marik looked over at the distraught boy, obviously he knew Pegasus. "Why did they take him?"

Yugi choked out another sob and wiped a tear from his eye. "That was Maximillion. He's the leader of Millennium and rarely ever comes to visit." Marik's eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched as he heard how involved Pegasus was, but let Yugi keep talking. "The only time he comes is to remove older prisoners to make room for new ones." He sniffed lightly, before breaking down into tears again as the lights were once again switched off. "He's going to kill Malik!"

* * *

**SW: You have no idea how annoying this chapter was.**

**Malik: You're going to kill me!  
SW: Well, there's that, but I had SOOOO much trouble with the line breakers. It seems that they have decided to hate me.**

**Bakura: There's a shocker.**

**SW: I apologize if any of them are missing. Even when I tried to do like asterisks or hyphens or something like that, FanFiction decided to delete it for me. UGH!**

**Review please!**


	7. Family

**SW: OMR! Look at my review responses! I got seven for one chapter! SQUEE!  
Yugi: You reviewers have just made SoWhatever really happy!**

**SW: Yeah! I love you guys all so much! (If you don't know, my average for every chapter is around four reviews, and the highest I've ever gotten is an eight [which was only once], so anything over five makes me extremely happy! ^.^)  
Thank you to White Weasel (Hehe, your review made me giggle! We'll see what happens!), HipsterL (Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting in a hit or two…), Awesometamez (I know right? I threaten Malik's life way too much in my stories…I need a good-old Bronzeshipping one-shot!), Toisse (I'm really glad that you like Ryou! I was little scared I was making him too pushy, but your review made me happy!), Dawnwisker (I just love cliffies, don't you?), calleyrose (I absolutely LOVE your idea! But I don't think I can fit it into the plot…), NifflerCat122 (Thank you! I'm glad you like it!), UnicornMachine (OMR thank you so much! Everytime I get a compliment on my writing style I just feel like glowing! ;) And that yaoi will be coming up soon, don't worry), and Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (Hehe, Marik is going to get some payback ;)…Just maybe not in this chapter) for reviewing!**

**Enjoy!**

**~~~~~~LINE~~~~~~**

Bakura grumbled against the light that hit his closed eyes, waking him up slowly. Since when had he left the curtains open in his room? Awareness came around just as slowly as he was waking up, and he remembered why he was on his bed and not on the couch.

Ryou had had a nightmare in the middle of the night and had woken him up with his screams. He had fallen off the couch and stubbed his toe on the table as the piercing sounds ripped through the house. The man reached up, his eyes still closed, and rubbed the light bump on his head he still had from hitting the ground. He had been able to calm the kid without him waking up, but Ryou had a wrapped a hand around Bakura's wrist and had refused to let go. Where was the kid now? Bakura knew there wasn't another person on the bed; he would've felt the extra weight. He heard light humming coming from down the hall and decided that it was probably Ryou.

Groaning lightly, Bakura rolled off the bed and ran a hand through his hair as he walked to the door of his room. Opening it and walking out into the hallway, he blinked lightly against the sunlight. Every single curtain was open, and the early morning light poured into the house. He grumbled and made his way to the kitchen, where Ryou was frying eggs he had found in the fridge.

"Good morning!" Bakura scowled at the brightness in Ryou's voice. He really didn't like morning people. "How do you want your egg?"

Bakura mumbled something unintelligible and sat down at the table, noticing for the first time that it was cleared, and looked around the room. There were no dirty dishes in the sink, no overflowing trashcan, and none of the rotten food smell that always seemed to hover over his kitchen. How long had the kid been up?

Ryou slid a plate in front of him with a large smile, and Bakura blinked. He could imagine for a second that Ryou lived here, with him, and had done this every morning, and would continue to do it for every morning after. It was a weird flash of a could-be future that Bakura promptly ignored, grabbing the provided fork and digging in.

After cleaning off the stove and sliding the frying pan into the washing machine Bakura had thought he had broken ages ago, Ryou slid into the seat across from him. "I was actually about to wake you up. Isis called and wants us there in an hour." There was no happiness in the statement like there had been before, as if that one sentence sucked all the morning energy out of Ryou, and Bakura hid a frown behind another mouthful.

"It's good." And it was. Surprisingly, Ryou had been able to guess he liked his eggs over-easy, and had cooked it to perfection.

Ryou smiled again, but it was sadder than before. "I'm glad you liked it. I learned to cook from my mom, and I had to cook for myself since my dad wasn't around often. I'm glad I haven't forgotten how to."

"What time did you get up?" He might've sounded brisk, but hey, it wasn't like he had asked the kid to give him his life story.

"A little before you, really." Ryou shrugged, and Bakura knew he was lying. "I hope you don't mind that I cleaned up a bit. It's the least I could do for letting me stay with you."

Bakura didn't have an answer to that, so he quickly finished his breakfast and stood up, looking over Ryou. He was still wearing the cotton tank top and shorts that he showed up in, and for a moment he wondered why Ryou had never complained about being cold. Or why no one else had noticed it. Or why he had forgotten. "You need a change of clothes. C'mon." He turned around and walked out of the room, listening to how Ryou scrambled to put both their plates in the sink before following after him.

He walked into his room, the one place in his house he had made a point to keep clean, and over to his closet. Bakura pulled out a pair of sweatpants Ryou could roll up if they were long and an old shirt. After he handed the clothes to the kid, he reached into his closet again and grabbed a pair of dark jeans and a shirt. He pulled off his old shirt, and was in the process of putting on his new one, when he looked over and saw Ryou staring at the ground with a blush, still holding onto the clothes he had been given.

Rolling his eyes, Bakura jerked his head to the door. "Bathroom's down the hall and to the right." He smirked as the boy practically sprinted from the room, then changed his pants, threw his dirty clothes in the hamper, and walked out of the room and to the front door to wait for Ryou.

Ryou was staring at himself in the mirror, trying to get his confidence up. This was ridiculous. Groaning and letting his head fall into his hands, he tried to keep his thoughts from getting too depressing. They were going to get Yugi and Malik today. Maximillion was going to be caught. Maybe he'd even get to see his father. Bakura was only doing his job, nothing more to it. So why did his heart flutter whenever he was around him?

He looked at his reflection again and nodded his head in determination. He could do this. He could hold himself together. Don't think about the past two years. Smile, there's nothing to be scared about. You're safe. As long as you don't focus on what happened, you can get through the day. It's better to keep everything inside than to burden others with your problems. Straightening the clothes Bakura had given him one more time, he walked out of the bathroom and down the hallway, where he saw Bakura waiting for him.

"It's about time. C'mon, hurry up."

Ryou nodded his head and smiled, before placing his old clothes on the ground so he could slip on the sneakers Isis had given him last night. Standing up once they were tied, Ryou grabbed his clothes and once again followed Bakura, this time out to his motorcycle.

**~~~~~~LINE~~~~~~**

Malik glared at the ceiling, tugging one more time on the handcuffs that attached his wrist to the bedposts. He didn't recognize the room that he had woken up in, but he did know what being taken by Maximillion meant. This sucked. The door opened and Malik turned his head to watch Rex Raptor saunter in. He rolled his eyes and went back to staring at the ceiling.

"Don't ignore me!" Malik did exactly that, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing as Rex stomped his foot on the ground. The man had always had it against Malik, just because he knew that the platinum blonde was stronger than him. "You are so dead!"

Malik shrugged. "I already knew that. No big deal." But it was. He didn't want to die! He wanted to see Isis again!

"Now, now, Rex, don't threaten the prisoners." Maximillion walked into the room, and Malik started to shake.

Rex grumbled out an excuse and left the room, leaving Malik and Maximillion alone. Malik put his shields up; he wouldn't let the man see him scared. "Well, aren't you going to give some sort of speech before you kill me?"

The man gave a small giggle, and a chill went down Malik's spine. "Silly Malik, I'm not going to kill you. Who would make sure I stay alive then?"

"What?" Malik blinked in shock, trying to comprehend what he meant.

"I've stepped on a lot of people's toes, and I needed insurance that I can make it out of here without those people killing me."

Oh, great. Now he's a hostage. "That won't work, you know."

Maximillion smiled widely. "Are you sure? Your sister is going to be the one leading the break-in, and what do you think her reaction will be if she sees you with a gun to your head?"  
"I'm not that important. My sister wouldn't let a criminal go just because of me. You should know that." But Malik wasn't sure. Would Isis really call off the rescue if she saw he was in danger? He was scared of the answer. "She takes everything she does seriously."

"But she thinks with her heart more than her head." Maximillion placed a hand on Malik's knee, slowly sliding it up and watching the panic flash on Malik's face before it set in a grimace. "Trust me, when she sees you, she won't be able to say no to me."

**~~~~~~LINE~~~~~~**

"Ryou, you're staying here." Bakura was in his office, pulling on a bullet-proof vest, and he looked over to the pouting boy sitting in the chair where this all started.

"What? Why can't I come?"

Isis walked in and nodded to Bakura. "Because it's going to be dangerous, Ryou. You don't know the procedures we need to go through, and you'll probably just slow us down." She smiled apologetically as Ryou's pout grew. "Besides, I doubt you'll even miss us. There's someone here to see you." She turned around and walked out of the room.

Ryou looked up from where he had been staring at the ground. He immediately stood up and smiled at the man standing in the doorway Isis had just left out of, straightening his clothes and fixing his posture unconsciously. "Father!"

"Hello, Ryou." His father's eyes meet his own for a second before sliding to the left. But Ryou didn't care. It had always been that way since the accident. "It's good to see you again."

Oh, he wanted so badly to run over and hug him, to cry on his shoulder, but he knew he couldn't. Instead, he gave a watery smile. "Yeah. How's America?"

"Just fine." The man still hadn't looked at him since he came in the room. "You never told me you switched majors."

Ryou's eyes went wide and he ducked his head. He really should have expected this, but did Father really have to do it in front of Bakura? "I'm sorry, Father."

"Your landlord didn't tell me you went missing. I was still paying rent." He knew that Father sounded cold, but he wasn't, really. He just had a hard time expressing worry.

"I'm sorry, Father."

"But I don't want you going back to the University of Tokyo. You're coming back to California with me and studying law at Stanford, where I can keep an eye on you." He could feel Bakura looking at him, shouldn't he have left already?

"Yes, Father." Now he couldn't look at Father either, because if he did he knew he would start crying. What about Malik and Yugi?

"Our flight is leaving in two days. As soon as they've captured this Pegasus, we're heading to the hotel I'm staying at."

Ryou took a deep breath, nodding his head one more time. "Alright, Father." He looked up at Bakura and smiled weakly, pretending not to see the shocked look on his face. "Don't you have to go save Officer Marik, Officer Bakura?"

The man grunted and reluctantly left the room, giving Ryou one last glance before leaving him with his father. Ryou looked over at his father, who was still standing awkwardly in the doorway. "Why don't you come and sit down, Father? It might be a long wait."

He nodded and moved into the room, stiffly sitting in the seat Ryou had just been in. "So polite, your mother would be proud of you." That small compliment lifted Ryou's spirits, and he straightened his shoulders. "So where have you been in the time you were missing?"

Ryou deflated. He was glad Isis hadn't told him anything, but a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to talk to Father about it. "It's nothing to worry about, Father."

"That's my boy. Always keeping it together."

**~~~~~~LINE~~~~~~**

**Ryou: Why would you do that to me?**

**Malik: To us?**

**Yugi: You mean Ryou's going to be leaving?**

**SW: Eheh. Um, maybe?  
Bakura: *crossing arms* Ryou's father is a bastard.**

**Ryou: Bakura! He has his reasons…**

**Review please!**


	8. Rescue

**SW: *jumping around and squeezing life out of her stuffed Simba* I love reviewers!**

**Yugi: Most of you guys left really long reviews and that's super special awesome!**

**SW: *squeal* AH! I love you all!**

**Thank you to White Weasel (Thank you! I was kind of nervous on the whole scene with Ryou's father, so I'm glad you thought it was good!), 3789976 (I know!), Awesometamez (I'm glad you liked it! And sure…everyone gets saved in this chapter...right…), calleyrose (Yeah I hate Ryou's father too. And maybe Marik _will_ have some fun*evil face*), UnicornMachine (Thank you so much! I love constructive criticism! And I'm planning on focusing more on the whole recovery thing after it's all over, because as of right now, Ryou's only been with the police and his father, both of which he trusts, plus he's always been told to bottle up his emotions, but in the aftermath he's going to have to a face a world that he might not be prepared for…I don't want to give too much away…so, yeah), and Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (I'm getting there! ;) It's getting close) for reviewing!**

**((((((LINE))))))**

Marik was sitting on the edge of his bed, impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. He was glaring at the lock on his cell door, as if sheer will-power could unlock it. The sound of boots approaching broke his staring contest with the lock and he looked up to see three guards approaching.

"Prisoner 327, you are to come with us."

Yugi whimpered and licked his lips, starting to shake. He had an idea, but it meant he had to be brave. He stood up, and felt hysterical laughter bubbling up inside him when his knees knocked together. _Him_? Being brave? This wasn't going to work. Yugi saw the guards entering his cell and he took a deep breath. Even if it didn't work, it didn't mean he couldn't try. The guards grasped his arms, and that's when he started to struggle.

Marik watched with a slightly amused expression as the three guards tried to hold down the struggling boy. The kid seemed to know that the guards couldn't hurt him, and was using that to his full advantage. There were a few opportunities Marik saw that Yugi could have escaped, but didn't, and he wondered what the kid was up to. He watched as the smaller made another grab at the waistband of one of the guards and Marik felt a smirk grow on his face. Smart kid. He was trying to get the keys.

Suddenly, Yugi just stopped fighting, his hands fisted at his sides. The guards quickly grabbed a hold of him and led him out of the cell, not noticing when Yugi opened his palm and keys dropped to the floor as he passed Marik's cell. The sound was muffled by the boots of the guards and the jiggling of the keys on the hips of the guards not missing theirs. Marik's smirk grew.

He knelt down and reached out, the tips of his fingers grasping at the edge of the keys, pulling them closer to him. He finally managed to get a good grip on the keys and stood up, taking the keys with him. Maneuvering his hand until they were in front of the lock and, ignoring the excited gasps of the people in the cells around him, began the process of finding the right key.

**((((((LINE))))))**

Bakura scowled at the warehouse down the block from where they were stationed, the sun beating down on him. It was almost noon. They had spent half the day scoping out the district Marik had been taken in, and this was where activity had been highest. He turned from it and walked over to Isis.

"Do we know how many people are in there?"

Isis shook her head and frowned. "We sent a man in an hour ago, but he's failed to report, so essentially, we're going in blind."

"Perfect." Not for the first time, Bakura's mind wandered to Ryou and he didn't notice when Isis walked away to yell at a new officer strapping on a bullet-proof vest wrong. Maybe he could convince the kid to stay somehow? He was still thinking about the smaller albino when Yami approached him.

"We're about to go in. You ready?"

A smirk made its way to Bakura's face. "Hell yeah." He shifted his vest to a more comfortable position and checked the handgun on his hip, making sure it was fully loaded. "Let's go."

**((((((LINE))))))**

Ryou nervously chewed his lip, staring out the window of Bakura's office. His father had been on the phone most of the morning, talking with people from his work, and everyone he knew at the station had gone to bust Millennium. It set him just a little bit on edge.

"Stop biting your lip. It's a bad habit."

"Sorry, Father. I'll stop." He looked over and smiled at his father, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. He couldn't help thinking that he didn't want to leave Malik and Yugi behind. And then there was Bakura…

"That's my boy."

But every time his father complimented him, and every time it seemed like he would stop avoiding him like the plague, Ryou couldn't imagine doing anything other than what his father wanted and doing his best to make his father proud.

The man turned back to his phone and Ryou turned back to the window. Were they okay? Have they found the warehouse yet? Did Yugi and Malik get out safely? Ryou closed his eyes and let his head fall on the wall he was leaning against, trying to calm the thoughts whirling around in his brain.

**((((((LINE))))))**

Marik crept through the hallways, hiding in the shadows whenever guards passed by him. He didn't know if he was going in the right direction, but there were more guards and less prisoners as he made his way through the warehouse, so he could only imagine that he was getting closer to the center of operations.

"Did you hear that Maximillion is keeping a kid locked up in his room? Must be pretty good to get that kind of treatment." Marik stiffened as two guards walked past the corner he had stopped in.

There was a snigger following that statement. "Yeah, you think we could get in sometime when Maximillion isn't around?"

Their voices faded and Marik rolled his eyes and looked around the edge of the corner, surprised to find the hallway was lined with doors. Swearing under his breath, he looked behind him once before running to the end of the hallway, opening the door he found there and slipping inside. He would just have to go through the rooms one by one until he found Malik.

"M-Marik?" Or not.

The man turned around and faced the boy sitting on the bed in middle of the room. He couldn't hold back the growl when he saw the state Malik was in. There was blood trailing down the side of his face and the skin that he could see was covered in bruises of different shades. One of Malik's wrists was handcuffed to the bedpost, and the other was wrapped around his stomach.

Malik smiled lightly and tried to sit up, the arm around his stomach tightening as he grimaced in pain. "What are you doing here?"

"Yugi helped me out." He didn't see the need to go into any further explanation as he stepped up to the bed and pushed Malik down. He wondered how the little squirt was holding up. "Don't move. You're hurt."

"No shit, Sherlock."

Marik rolled his eyes at the sarcasm and looked around for something that he could pick the lock of the handcuff with. As much as he wanted to go and hunt down the man responsible for this, he knew he needed to get Malik out. "When's the last time Pegasus was in here?"

Malik frowned and closed his eyes, trying to think against the throbbing in his head. "I don't know…I think I was out for some time though."

There was a flash of anger that went through Marik, but he calmed it enough to focus on rummaging around in the desk in the corner of the room. He smirked as he grabbed a small key that had been in the bottom drawer and walked back over to the bed, slipping it into the handcuff with ease and unlocking it.

He bent over and grabbed Malik's arm, wrapping it around his neck to give Malik support as he slowly stood up. Malik winced with every movement, wondering when the world would stop spinning. They slowly made their way to the door and Marik wondered how they were ever going to make it out without anyone noticing them.

He grabbed the door and opened it, unprepared for the chaos that greeted him.

**((((((LINE))))))**

**SW: You guys have no idea how close you came to not getting a chapter today.**

**Yugi: Yeah, SoWhatever had Homecoming last night and she's been busy all week so she's had no time to write.**

**SW: As it is, I feel bad about giving you guys such a short update…and really late at that…and it has a bunch of scene changings, which I hate...I'm sorry for the horrible chapter! I will make up for it next week! *goes to curl up in a ball on her bed***

**Ryou: SoWhatever apologizes!**

**Please Review?**


	9. Reunion

**SW: I'm going to like this chapter.**

**Thank you to lorella moon (Thank you! I hope you like what happens next!), 3789976 (Hopefully this chapter will be worth the wait!), White Weasel (Thank you so much! I'm glad you didn't mind the short chapter! Hooray for Yugi! And yes! Revenge for all! Mwahaha!), Awesometamez (Thanks! I'm glad you thought the chapter was nice and yeah, you're probably right), HipsterL (Hopefully it was worth the wait!), calleyrose (Yugi's brave! [Not that we didn't already know that XD but still] Hooray! Yeah, the way it's going I wouldn't be surprised if Bakura punched out Ryou's father), Dawnwisker (Don't worry, I will never leave a story without an update for that long!), and UnicornMachine (Glad you like the plot so far XD and the yaoi is approaching be prepared!) for reviewing!**

**Enjoy!**

**((((((LINE))))))**

Yugi shook as he stood in middle of the room, trying not to give into the instinct to crawl in a corner. He closed his eyes tightly and bit his lip to hold back a whimper when he felt a puff of air on the back of his neck. Chills ran up and down his spine as a fingernail trailed down one of his arms. It was dark in the room, and even though it had been a good five minutes since the guards had pushed him in, his eyes still hadn't adjusted enough to see who was doing this.

There was a dark chuckle and suddenly Yugi's shirt was yanked over his head. He knew better than to fight back. It only made it worse. Desperately trying to swallow the bile in his throat as a tongue lapped at his chest, Yugi stood stock still and tried to think of something else.

How was his grandpa? Was the game shop doing okay? Was-Was…This time Yugi couldn't hold back the whimper that came up as a hand brushed across his pants. Dungeon Dice Monsters, Monster World, Duel Monsters, Dark Magician, Celtic Guardian, Kuriboh…His pants had been thrown down and the hand was now fingering him. Yugi's knees shook, but he locked them back, he couldn't fall. He wouldn't.

The hand finished what it was doing and he felt another hand join it, and the two crawled over his body until they stopped to hold Yugi's shoulders from behind, gripping tightly and pushing forward until Yugi was bent over.

Suddenly the light in the room turned on and the hands loosened in shock. Even though he was momentarily blinded, Yugi could see just enough through the black spots that he was able to launch himself sideways and curl up in a corner of the bare room. He had his face buried in his knees with his back to the wall, and his eyes were closed tight against the burn of tears.

There was a struggle, he heard that much, but he was too busy trying to get himself together to really pay attention.

"Here."

He barely heard the word, but he opened one eye slightly to see a man with white hair pushing another out of the room. Yugi looked beside him and saw his clothes, however ruffled they were, laying innocently at his feet. He quickly slipped on his pants and shirt, lifting his hips lightly to get the pants on, but never standing up, before going back to the position he was in before.

He assumed it was only a matter of time until the man with the white hair returned. Maybe someone had gotten the order wrong? Yugi choked back a sob. Now he would have to go through two different foreplay scenarios. Oh, joy.

"Hello." He jerked backwards in shock as a new voice spoke up. "Sh, sh, sh. I'm not gonna hurt you." Yugi looked up and stared into deep crimson eyes. This didn't sound like any scare tactic he had been through before. "Do you want to come with me, little one?" Then again, the man could be luring him into a false sense of security. "There are people outside who want to help you." Was he just another buyer?

The man seemed to sense Yugi's reluctance and sat down in front of him. "My name is Deputy Yami." That calm voice was like aloe on Yugi's nerves. "I'm with the Domino Police Department." This was sounding more and more convincing. "We've just found out about Millennium and we're here to take you home."

_Home._ The word sounded so sweet that Yugi had to close his eyes to keep the tears from falling, but it was no use. He was going _home_.

"Woah, woah, woah." He heard Yami move closer and he felt the hesitation before a hand was placed on his back and soothing circles were soon being rubbed on his back. "I'm sorry if I said something wrong, little one. It's alright. Everything's going to be alright."

Yugi nodded and wiped the tears from his eyes, smiling shakily at Yami. "Thank you." He moved away from the hand and slowly got to his feet. He wrapped his arms around himself and looked over at the deputy now standing next to him. "Can we go now?"

The man smiled and nodded and walked to the door holding it open for Yugi. He scrubbed his eyes to make sure there were no more tears and walked into the hallway. He stared in shock at the people in handcuffs, people who he thought he'd be stuck with for the rest of his life. Yugi felt a hand on the small of his back, leading him away from the yelling and protesting criminals and out to the front of the warehouse.

As soon as he stepped outside, he was hustled away from Yami by a woman in a paramedic uniform. Yugi looked back in fright only to see the man nod that it was okay. He was wrapped in a blanket and told to sit on the back bumper of an ambulance while he waited his turn.

He didn't know how to react. It looked like it was only around four in the afternoon, but there were lights flashing and people walking around everywhere. It was just too much to take in; he was overwhelmed.

"Yugi!" He sat up straighter and looked around to find the owner of that voice. "Over here!"

He smiled brightly and laughed as he saw Malik, who was waving franticly and completely ignoring the two paramedics just finishing wrapping a bandage around his waist. Deciding it wasn't really worth it to sit and wait, since he didn't have any physical damage, Yugi pushed off the back of the ambulance and made his way to his friend.

He stopped in front of him, looking around in shock one more time. "So Ryou really did it, huh?"

"Yeah!" For a moment, pain flashed across his face, and a hand went up to his head, where another bandage was placed. Malik had changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, but that didn't mean he couldn't see the bruises on his arms. Yugi was just about to tell him to sit down, but then Malik gestured over to the side and someone moved closer. "There's someone I want you to meet. Yugi, this is my sister, Isis."

"Hello." Yugi smiled lightly at the woman standing next to Malik. "Malik's told me a lot about you."

Isis placed a firm hand on Malik's shoulder, obviously worried about him. "And he's told me about you. If it's alright with you, we placed a call to your grandfather. Malik told us where you lived and we looked it up."

"Grandpa…" He smiled past the tears. "Of course it's alright." Why couldn't he stop crying?

"My boy!" Suddenly, Yugi was scooped up into a hug, and he tensed for a moment before crying out and wrapping his arms around his grandfather. "Oh, my boy, my grandson, I am so sorry. You are so brave. I am so happy to see you." The words were pouring out of Sugoroku Motou and Yugi just nodded and squeezed tighter, the two completely oblivious to anyone around them.

Isis tightened her grip on Malik's shoulder as the two watched the happy scene. It might've hurt him a little bit, but Malik never protested and wouldn't have dared moving away. People were reuniting everywhere and members of Millennium were being shipped off in police cars. Then something occurred to him. "Sister, where's Ryou? Marik said he found you."

"We left him at the station with his father. Don't worry you'll see him soon." Isis turned to the side. "Marik, can we get a car to head back to the station?" The man was arguing with Bakura, but looked up and nodded, jogging off to get an SUV.

Yugi and his grandfather finally pulled apart, though they didn't let go of each other. Just like Malik and Isis, the two didn't want to release the other so they wouldn't be separated again. "Grandpa, this is one of the friends I made, Malik, and his sister, Sherriff Isis."

"Thank you so much for rescuing my grandson. I have no idea how to thank you."

"How about skipping over this lovey-dovey, mushy stuff and heading back to the station?" Bakura had walked up to the group and had his nose wrinkled in disgust. "Marik's got a car ready." With that, he turned away and walked towards an idling van.

Isis nodded and grabbed at the speakerphone at her waist. She lifted it to her mouth and turned away so as not to blow out Malik's eardrums. "Anyone who would like to make a statement, please make a line in front of Officer Mai Valentine!" The blonde woman raised her hand and waved it so people would know who she was. "Please check in with the Domino Police Department after the paramedics check you over!"

With that, she turned the speakerphone off and wrapped an arm around Malik's shoulder, leading the way to the car Bakura had gotten into. Yugi and his grandfather climbed into the back and Yami was already sitting in the middle. Marik was grinning madly in the driver's seat, and Bakura was glaring out the passenger seat window. As Isis climbed in to sit next to Yami, Malik took one last look at the warehouse he had just exited from before getting in the last seat in the middle and shutting the door behind him.

**((((((LINE))))))**

The station was full of people franticly running back and forth. The most information Ryou could get from anyone was that Millennium had been found and that they were making arrests. He stood in the doorway of Bakura's office, listening to the soft voice of his father on the phone behind him and the loud buzz of activity in front of him.

"Close the door, Ryou, it's too loud and I can't hear my associate."

"Sorry, Father." He took a step back and was reaching out to the door to close when he was suddenly tackle-hugged by two bodies.

"Ryou! You did it! Thank you so much!" Yugi and Malik were smiling at him, but it only reminded him that he'd soon have to leave.

Ryou weakly smiled back, holding down tears as he hugged Yugi and Malik. "I'm glad you got out safe."

He heard the click of his father shutting his phone, and Ryou stiffened considerably. Shaking his head lightly when both his friends looked at him in confusion, Ryou took a small step back and detached the arms that were around him. "Father, these are my friends, Yugi Motou and Malik Ishtar." He looked past the two and saw everyone else. "And those are Officer Marik and Deputy Yami. You already know Officer Bakura and Sherriff Isis."

"A pleasure." As if the others weren't worth his time, the man focused solely on Isis. "Is Pegasus in jail?"

"He's being held in a high security holding center until his trial comes to court, but yes, he won't be able to escape any time soon."

Ryou's father nodded and wrapped a hand around Ryou's arm. "C'mon then, Ryou. We're heading to my hotel room, I'm sure we can find you some spare clothes on the way." He looked at the sweats and t-shirt Ryou was wearing with slight reproach. "Something presentable."

"You mean Ryou's not staying?" Wincing lightly at the tone, Ryou looked over at Yugi who was now standing behind him next to Malik as his father pulled him away.

"Of course not, little boy. Ryou will be traveling back with me to California in two days." Ryou bit his lip and looked away, before nodding his head.

Isis stepped in front of them. "I'm sorry, Mr. Bakura, but that won't be possible." Looking up in shock at the woman blocking his father, Ryou felt a small prick of hope that maybe he wouldn't have to leave his friends so soon.

"Excuse me?"

Yami smirked, seeing the same problem that Isis did. "We don't know when Pegasus' trial will be." He shrugged and winked over at Yugi, who blushed in response. "And Ryou will definitely have to make a statement in court, since he was the one who told us where to find Millennium."

The man ran a hand over his face. "I have to return to America as soon as possible, my colleagues are already questioning my absence." He looked down at his son. "Do you think you could manage on your own?"

Before Ryou could answer, someone else spoke up. "He can stay with me." Everyone looked over in shock at Bakura, who had just made the offer to let someone else stay in his home. "Think about it Mr. Bakura. He'll be safe with a police officer and you won't have to pay rent." He smirked as if he knew the man wouldn't refuse.

The man let out a breath and nodded to Ryou. "Is that alright with you, Ryou?"

"Yes, it's okay, Father, I understand you need to go back to your work."

There was a moment where Ryou thought his father might have hugged him, but it passed, and all he received was a pat on the head before the man left the room, already talking on his phone about changing his flight to today.

"Well, that man is a bastard."

"Malik!" Ryou turned from watching his father leave to glaring lightly at his friend. "That's my father!"

He shrugged and smirked. "Yeah, and he's a bastard. What kind of father would leave his son to face court alone?"

Isis smacked him on the side of the head, rolling her eyes lightly when he yelped in pain. "Even if the man isn't a great father, you can't go around insulting people like that."

"Oh! Ryou, I wanted to introduce you to my grandpa." Yugi stepped forward, quickly changing the subject as he pulled his grandfather from the back of the group.

Ryou smiled politely, bowing slightly in respect. "Hello, Mr. Motou."

"Please, call me Grandpa. Everyone else does."

Nodding happily, Ryou turned to the rest of the group, almost laughing at the scene that had developed while he was greeting Yugi's grandfather. Isis was still scolding Malik, but he wasn't paying any attention to her, instead staring at Marik, who was yelling at a way too innocent-looking Bakura about throwing a dart at his head. Yugi had left their sides to join Yami, who was leaning against the wall watching everything play out. He was timid and shy, but eventually they started up a conversation.

"They're trying to make it like this whole thing never happened."

Ryou jumped at the voice next to him, having completely forgotten that Yugi's grandfather was next to him. "I'm sorry, what?"

The old man chuckled and smiled. "They're all trying to make you three feel normal. I know you've got a long way to recovery." He reached a hand up to place it on Ryou's shoulder, watching the small flinch that happened as a result. It wasn't that he was scared, but he had just met the man, that didn't mean Ryou wanted to be touched by him. "I know we don't know each other very well, but if you ever need anything, come to me, I'll-we'll all help."

"Thank you." And Ryou meant it, he had no idea how this would play out, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

**((((((LINE))))))**

**SW: Hooray for reunions and happy endings!**

**Ryou: The next chapter gets complicated, doesn't it?**

**SW: Yep! And just so you know, dear readers, just because Pegasus is behind bars and everyone is safe, doesn't mean the story is finished!**

**Bakura: This chapter only has one scene change and is longer than normal so you better be thankful!**

**SW: Now, now, no need to make the readers feel threatened.**

**Pretty please review? (with sprinkles and sugar and frosting and yumminess on top?)**


	10. Home

**SW: O.O**

**Malik: What?  
SW: I got 12 –that's right, 12!– reviews in this chapter! AH! *proceeds to jump around and act like a dork***

**Thank you to 3789976 (I'm glad you're happy!), calleyrose (I'm pretty sure everyone is hoping that Bakura will smack some sense into Ryou's father ;) and hooray for yaoi! [I'm sure Yami and Marik will find a way around Isis and Grandpa]), Ocena Strex (Thank you! I was kind of stressing over how the whole reunion part went over, it's hard to write a scene with eight people in it, but I'm glad it worked out!), White Weasel (Yep, Ryou's father is outta here! To tell you the truth I didn't have much of an idea for this chapter when I started it either -.-"), lorella moon (Thank you! :D), sexy demon neko ciel (I'm glad Yugi's reunion was that good!), HipsterL (Puzzleshipping! I'm so happy I made you squeal!), Dawnwisker (I'm sorry! I hope I never get like that!), Awesometamez (Yep ;) things might get a little heated between Ryou and Bakura…glad you liked!), The Bride of constant Vigil (I love happiness! Complications are what make the plot spin around!), Anonymous (Thank you!), Jaden-Lover1634 (Haha, neither. I live in Romeo…My friend and I go all the time!), and UnicornMachine (Of course I'm shipping Yami and Yugi! I love them! And I'm so glad you thought the reunion was sweet!) for reviewing!**

**Phew…that was long…Hope you like!**

**((((((LINE))))))**

"Is it true that Millennium has been around for five years?"

"Mr. Bakura! Do you have any statements on how you were able to escape?"

"What punishment do you think Maximillion Pegasus should get?"

Ryou walked slowly behind Bakura as the man shoved his way past reporters, each one trying to get closer to the smaller albino. He looked behind him and saw Malik in a similar position, only he was being led by Isis and Marik. Why Marik was there, he would never know. As Ryou looked around for his other friend, he was surprised to see tri-colored hair disappear back into the police station and wondered briefly if something was wrong before a hand gripped his wrist and pulled him through the worst of the crowd.

"Damn paparazzi. Never learn when to shut up." Ryou was dragged to Bakura's motorcycle, and he did his best to ignore the flashes of light that signaled someone was taking their pictures. Millennium was turning into a pretty large case and everyone wanted an exclusive, so they had been swarmed when they had unwittingly walked out of the police station and into the waiting crowd of reporters. He tensed as another person called out his name and gratefully took the helmet that Bakura held out to him before climbing on the back of the motorcycle.

They zoomed out of the parking lot, and Ryou let his thoughts go with the wind as Bakura drove to his house. It was all too soon when Bakura stopped the bike and put down the kickstand.

Ryou took off his helmet and placed it in the storage compartment under the seat before following the older albino inside. He took off his shoes and stood there awkwardly, looking at the bandages around his feet while Bakura stared at him.

"Alright, I'm going to grab a blanket for the couch again." Bakura turned from Ryou and walked into the living room. "You can go to bed if you want. Or not, I don't really care."

"Wait!" Bakura turned around to face him. "You aren't going to sleep on the couch again, are you?" Ryou blushed as Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Well, I mean, it was alright for one night, I guess, but I don't know how long I'm going to have to stay here, so I think you should stay in your own bed."

"No, I'm fine on the couch. You sleep on the bed."

Ryou scuffed his foot on the floor and looked down, his voice dropping to a mumble. "But it'll be easier for me not to bother with a nightmare if you're in your room with the door closed."

"Is that what you're worried about?" Bakura stepped up to Ryou and gripped his chin, forcibly lifting it up to stare into shocked brown eyes. "Look, kid, I don't care about any stupid dream you have waking me up in the middle of the night. If you do have another one, that means I'll just have to calm you down again, right?" He admired the blush on Ryou's face for a moment before he let go of the kid's chin and turned around to walk into the living room. "If you want something to eat, I'm sure there's something in the kitchen that's edible."

Ryou licked his lips nervously and stood there for a moment, trying to get his thoughts away from the fact that Bakura's face had been inches from his just a minute ago. Shaking his head roughly, he turned into the kitchen and opened the cupboards, pouting at the emptiness of them. He grabbed random items and turned to the fridge, planning out dinner.

Bakura flicked through another channel, his mind wandering to Ryou for not the first time that night. He knew the kid was in the kitchen, he could hear that much, but Ryou hadn't uttered a peep since he had laid down the law about where they were sleeping. He looked over at the pillow and blanket he would be using that night before standing up, planning on going into the kitchen to see what Ryou was doing.

"Dinner's ready!" Ryou came to the entrance of the living room, holding a large wooden spoon. "I'm not that used to cooking for two, but you had just enough for me to make stew." Bakura rolled his eyes and followed Ryou back into the kitchen, staring a certain area below the hips. "You really need to go grocery shopping, you have almost nothing!" The older man shrugged and grabbed the bowl of steaming food that was on the counter, taking the same seat he had been sitting in that morning, Ryou sitting across from him.

The two ate in silence, though to Ryou it seemed that Bakura was doing a lot more watching than eating, and with each passing moment his blush was growing. Finally, he looked up and met the man's eyes. "What?"  
He smirked, not even trying to hide the fact that he had been caught in the act of staring. "What?"

Ryou held back a groan of frustration. "You've been looking at me all night." He stood up with his half-empty bowl and moved to the sink, which still had the dishes they had used for breakfast in it. "Why?"

Grabbing his own bowl and placing it next to the one Ryou had just put in the sink, Bakura leaned against the countertop and watched Ryou begin washing, not bothering to offer help. "Got a problem with it?"

"A little, yes." Ryou placed the dishes he had washed into the dishwasher.

"Maybe I think you're cute." He smirked as Ryou fumbled with the dish he was holding in an effort not to drop it. "Or maybe you have something on your face." He pushed off the counter and walked back to the living room, already knowing that Ryou was wiping at his lips to see if there was any stew on it. He sat back down on the couch, listening to Ryou finish the dishes before he walked out of the kitchen. There was a moment where Ryou paused in front of the living room, and Bakura hoped for a second that he would come in, before it passed and Ryou was walking down the hall to the bedroom.

**((((((LINE))))))**

Yugi was breathing heavily as he sprinted back inside to the safety of the police station. Collapsing on the first chair he found, Yugi placed his head between his knees and covered his ears with his hands. Black spots were forming at the edge of his vision and it felt like it was getting harder and harder to breathe. It was just too much. There were people everywhere trying to touch him and it felt like his senses were going into overdrive.

"Yugi? Are you alright, my boy?" He flinched as he heard his grandfather, there was a dull roaring in his ears and he couldn't get enough air in his lungs.

Then, another voice spoke up. "I think he's going into a panic attack. Yugi, can you take deep breaths for me?" Even though Yugi was pretty sure he hadn't done anything different and it still felt like the world was closing in on him, that voice encouraged him. "That's right. You just need to calm down." Two hands were placed on his shoulder, one aged and familiar, and the other broad and strong. "We're here for you, Yugi. Deep breaths."

It felt like ages, though it was probably only a few minutes, until Yugi felt safe enough to lift his head. He winced when he saw the worried look on his grandfather's face and smiled timidly. "Sorry for worrying you…"

Sugoroku blinked, before chuckling lightly. "Yugi, you haven't changed a bit. I was going to worry about you anyway." He sobered up. "Don't consider that I wouldn't want to worry over you. You're my grandson and I haven't seen you in six months. I couldn't imagine doing anything other than worry."

Tears formed in Yugi's eyes and he wiped at them franticly. "Thanks, Grandpa."

Yami smiled at the two. "You know that we can go out the back door, so you don't have to go through the press again."

Nodding almost immediately, Yugi stopped and tilted his head to the side as a thought occurred to him. "How come we didn't do that the first time?"

"We didn't know the press would get hold of the story so early, it wouldn't surprise me if we had a leak." Yami scowled and shook his head, before leading the way to the back of the station.

Yugi and his grandfather followed and the smaller leaned in closer as the elder wrapped his arm around the other's shoulders. When Yami looked back, Yugi's head was resting on Sugoroku's shoulders and it looked to be taking a lot of coordination for them to be walking, but neither was complaining.

They reached the back and walked around the front, sneaking past the crowd still surrounding the front entrance. Yami smirked when he heard the revving of a motorcycle and saw Marik and Isis pushing through the last of the press. He stopped walking, letting Yugi and his grandfather walk to their car alone. Yami was turning around to go back inside when he heard someone call his name.

"Yami!" He turned back to see Yugi waving his arm. "Thank you!" He stepped into his car and his grandfather drove off as Yami watched them leave.

Yugi still had a small smile on his face as his grandfather left the parking lot. Yami was just so kind. He was amazed at how such a good-looking person didn't seem to be conceited at all.

"Joey has missed you."

The younger sobered up immediately, and he looked down at his lap. "I missed him too."

Sugoroku looked over at his grandson, before turning his attention back to the road. "He's come by almost every day to help out at the game shop and ask if they'd found anything about you."

"That sounds like him." And it did. Yugi thought back to the friends he had probably worried when he disappeared. "What about Duke, Tristan, and Tea?"

"They've all been around as well, though not as often as Joey." He briefly took a hand off of the wheel to tap his chin thoughtfully. "Tea postponed her transfer to America though, and Duke and Tristan come as often as they can while still developing Duke's board game. It's become quite popular."

Yugi's shoulders hunched. "I'm sorry I've caused so much trouble for you all."

His grandfather's hands tightened around the wheel. "Don't you ever think you've caused us any trouble at all. We've missed you and I know none of us would have done anything differently if given the chance. We love you, Yugi."

"Thanks…" He appreciated the words, but it didn't mean he believed them. Tea had been dreaming of going to New York for ages and Duke probably didn't have enough time between Tristan and his board game to have to wonder about him. And Joey…he sank deeper into his seat and hoped that none of them would be mad for causing them to waste their time worrying.

**((((((LINE))))))**

Malik gritted his teeth as he walked behind Isis and Marik, his head throbbing behind the bandage that was wrapped around it. Apparently he had a concussion, but he wasn't going to let that bother him. Already he had laughed off any worrying Ryou, Yugi, or his sister had expressed over his injuries – or how he got them – and he planned to keep them ignorant on how much pain he was actually in. He ignored the reporters that were practically leaping at his feet to try and get an exclusive and kept walking. He wouldn't let it show that the closeness of all these people was bothering him. Marik and Isis could do it, they weren't bothered, so why should he be? Exactly. He shouldn't be.

"Malik Ishtar, you're the daughter of Sherriff Ishtar, aren't you?"

"You've been missing for two years, would you like to make a statement on what happened during that time?"

"Malik, is it true that Officer Pegasus was the one to give you those injuries?"

His steps faltered and he almost froze, and he would have, only he knew it would only cause his sister to worry. And that was the reason that he clenched his teeth tighter and pushed forward, almost stepping on Marik's toes as he hurried to the SUV that Isis was walking to.

Isis turned around and faced the reporters that were following them, allowing Marik and Malik to climb into the car as the cameras focused on her.

"The Domino City Police Department will not be making a statement at the time, however, we will be holding a press conference tomorrow afternoon." She didn't wait for anything else, turning her back on the press and walking around to the driver's seat.

Malik stared at her sister as she backed out of the parking spot, obviously not caring if the press was out of the way or not. He knew that look in Isis' eye. She was one step away from bawling. Of course, that was if she hadn't changed in these past two years. He jerked his head to stare out the window, ignoring the shot of pain the quick movement brought to blink past the tears in his own eyes.

To distract himself and Isis from crying, he focused on something that had bothering him since he got in the car. Turning around to face the person in the back seat, he gave a small, albeit wobbly, smile. "Not to be rude or anything, but why are you here?"

Marik shrugged and smirked at Malik. "Isis and I live in the same apartment complex, so she drives me."

Isis shook her head, and looked at Marik through the rearview mirror. "Everyone at the station decided it was best to keep you off the road as much as possible."

He put a hand on his chest and did his best to look offended while grinning wildly. "Why, Isis, do you think I'm an unsafe driver?" He winked at Malik and his smirk grew wider as the boy immediately faced front again.

"Without a doubt." She turned into a small parking lot and efficiently pulled into an open spot. She turned to Malik and smiled. "I haven't moved apartments. I didn't even change anything inside in case you ever came back, so you wouldn't be disoriented."

"Isis…"

Marik opened the car door and slid out. "I'm heading up to my apartment. See ya." He made his way through the parking lot and to the small building next to it with his hands in his pocket.

Isis shook her head, opening her own door. "He and Bakura have a problem dealing with emotional moments. The crying and reuniting part of the job is normally handled by Yami, Mai, and I."

Sniffling and wiping his nose roughly – he must be coming down with a cold – Malik followed Isis. "Is there a story behind that?"

"I'm not entirely sure, neither likes to talk about their past. Bakura and Marik were a package deal when they graduated from the police academy though, so they must know at least a little bit about each other." Isis wrapped an arm around her brother and squeezed lightly as they walked into the lobby and to the stairs. "In fact, I think Bakura was invited to do security for the Prime Minister, but he turned them down because they wouldn't accept Marik. Too reckless for them."

They walked up the stairs together, and Malik got a strong sense of nostalgia. "You're quite a gossip, Sister. That much hasn't changed."  
Isis laughed, but it was slightly forced. "I've missed you, Malik, you know that?" The last part of her sentence wavered and Malik wrapped an arm around her waist, ignoring the small twinge of pain that went across his stomach with the action.

Deciding to ignore the fact that he could hear his sister sniffling, and could feel the slight tremors that were going through her, Malik changed the subject. "...Isis, which apartment does Marik live in?"

"Actually…" It was obvious that she was struggling to keep her voice steady. "The one across from ours…Why do you want to know, Malik? You seem awfully curious about this one man."

Malik almost tripped, and he felt a small burning feeling on his cheeks. "I-I don't know what you're talking about, Sister. I just want to know about the people you're working with."

They had reached their apartment and the two paused while Isis reached into her pocket to grab her keys. Malik looked over his shoulder at the door behind him, wondering about the man who lived inside. Catching himself once he realized where his thoughts were going, Malik turned back around and walked into the apartment he shared with Isis.

"You-You really didn't change anything…" He turned around in a slight circle, his chest tightening slightly. He stopped and walked down a short hallway that led to two bedrooms and a bathroom. He opened one of the doors and stared into the room he hadn't slept in for two years, but for some reason it looked blurry. "Sister…" He cleared his throat. "Can I sleep with you tonight?" Why did he ask that? He was twenty-one, he didn't need his sister to feel safe. Still, he found himself waiting anxiously for the answer.

Isis, who had been following behind her brother, nodded quickly. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

**((((((LINE))))))**

**SW: OMROMROMROMROMR! I'm so sorry!  
Bakura: Oh please, this has happened so many times your readers are probably expecting it.**

**SW: I completely and totally forgot it was Sunday until like 6, so I had to scramble to try and finish this in time.**

**Ryou: It's okay, I'm sure the readers will forgive you...**

**AH! Review.**


	11. Friends

**SW: Hooray! No one was mad at me for my late post!**

**Ryou: Told you.**

**Yugi: Wait…*reads over chapter and blushes* This is what you're posting?**

**SW: Yep! Hope y'all like!**

**Thank you to White Weasel (Thank you! I'm glad you're liking the romance!), PsychicEevee0103 (I'm glad you didn't mind the lateness!), Awesometamez (Your review made me smile **** Thank you!), Toisse (Hehe! I'm glad my chapter gave you the warm fuzzies! [Bakura: What the hell is that?] Warm fuzzies are the good feelings! ^^), .3 (Thank you! OMR I am so glad that you liked it!), Ocena Strex (I loved your review! It really gave me insight on how I am doing! I was hoping I wasn't being too forward with Bakura, and I'm happy I made Yugi realistic! And of course, then there's Marik...hehehe…), Guest ([I'm assuming all three were the same person] Yeah, the line button wasn't working for me so I just decided on that, and yes, freedom for all! [and hopefully happy endings], I'm gonna take the 'awww' as a good thing!), and calleyrose (Hehe, I'm glad you liked it! And yes, I will be working out a way for Yugi and Yami to connect ;) don't you worry!) for reviewing!**

**((((((LINE))))))**

_Ryou was running. Why, he wasn't sure why, all he knew was that he had to get as far away as possible from the thing he was running from. Suddenly, he tripped and he fell to the ground. Looking behind him to see what he had tripped over, Ryou's eyes widened when he saw the body of one of his best – and only – friends._

"_M-Malik, are you okay?" A stupid question, since it was obvious the blonde wasn't, but he asked anyway._

_He didn't get an answer, and disregarding the fact that he was supposed to be running, Ryou looked around for help. And that's how he found Yugi. The boy was face-down on the ground, and it looked like he wasn't breathing. He licked his lips and looked around franticly, but all he could see was black. He was about to cry for help when a voice called out to him._

"_Big Brother! Mommy's here to take us home from school today! Now we don't have to go on the bus!" He blinked, wondering why he would be hearing his sister's voice. There was a skid of tires and then his world shook as the sound of something crashing filled the air. "Big…Brother…I'm tired…and…cold…and Mommy's…sleeping…"_

_He heard sobbing and then the sound of footsteps running towards him. He looked up and saw a younger version of himself racing through the dark and he wanted to get up and comfort him, but suddenly he couldn't move and speak and it was too late because younger him was already gone._

_Then Pegasus was in front of him and he was smirking. For a minute he thought that the man was holding a gun to his head, but then the world flip-flopped and he was watching Bakura being shoved to the ground and having a gun aimed at him._

_He screamed. He screamed and he struggled against the shadowy bonds that were suddenly around him, holding him in place. He wasn't sure what he was screaming, but he just knew that if he didn't break free Bakura would die. Ryou froze for a second as he heard the click of a safety being turned off and he watched in slow motion as Pegasus pulled the trigger…_

"Wake up, damn it!" Bakura shook Ryou harder than before and the kid jerked into a sitting position, looking around franticly before launching into his chest. He looked down in shock at the head of white hair that was tucked under his chin, and he could feel the tears wetting the t-shirt he had gone to bed in.

Ryou had been screaming and calling his name and Bakura had thought someone was in the house until he made it to the room. It had taken him at least ten minutes to shake Ryou out of the dream, and even then Bakura knew the kid wouldn't be able to form coherent sentences, if the uncontrollable shaking of his shoulders was anything to go by.

He sighed and pushed Ryou back on the bed, not resisting when Ryou didn't let go of his shirt. Bakura adjusted himself into a more comfortable position, wondering how it was that Ryou's head had never left the position on his chest. Not that he was complaining.

"Go back to sleep, Ryou. I'm here." That seemed to be enough reassurance for the kid, because it wasn't long until his breathing was even again and his muscles were relaxed. Bakura forced himself to relax as well, and soon he nodded off to sleep, his arms wrapped around Ryou protectively.

The next morning, Ryou was staring at the t-shirt in front of him, knowing for sure that his face was a deep red. He couldn't move, not unless he wanted to wake Bakura up. The man had his arms wrapped around the smaller, and sometime in the middle of the night their legs had tangled together. He took a deep breath and tried to push down the blush, but each time it seemed like his face was cooling down, he remembered the position they were in.

The arms around him tightened slightly and Bakura breathed in deeply. Ryou quickly shut his eyes, hoping the man wouldn't notice the blush on his face and think he was still asleep. Bakura shifted a little, and Ryou could feel eyes staring down at him, and he tried his best not to flutter his eyelids and keep his breathing even. It seemed to work because after a minute Bakura relaxed and slowly untangled their limbs, pausing after each movement as if to make sure Ryou was still asleep.

Then, Bakura was gone and the bed was a lot colder than it had been a second ago. The door to the bedroom closed softly and Ryou let out a sigh. What was wrong with him? He opened his eyes and stared at the wall across from him before shaking his head and crawling out of bed to follow Bakura.

**((((((LINE))))))**

Malik woke up to the smell of pancakes. For a minute, he forgot where he was and he thought the guards were teasing them again with the smell of their breakfast while they only received oatmeal. And then it hit him. He was in a soft bed and the smell of incense was joining the familiar smell of pancake batter frying. He wasn't at Millennium, no, he was home, with Isis, and she was cooking him breakfast just like she did on the days she didn't have to go to work or school early.

Happy laughter bubbled up inside him and he pulled off the covers of his sister's bed and raced out of the room and to the kitchen, not even the small flash of pain that came from his head dampened his mood. "Good morning, Sister!"

"You're energetic today." Malik smiled, it was like he had never been gone. A plate of pancakes was placed in front of him and a memory flashed across his mind.

_Malik glared at the plate of pancakes in front of him, stabbing at them lightly with his fork._

"_If you aren't going to eat them, put them in the fridge for later, don't maul them." Isis said stiffly from across the table._

_He pouted and shoved his plate away, standing up. "Whatever." He turned and left the room._

"_Don't you walk away from the table without cleaning it off!"_

_Malik rolled his eyes and kept walking to his room, slamming the door shut behind him when he reached it._

"Malik, are you alright?" Blinking slightly and looking over at where Isis was sitting across from him, Malik quickly nodded his head, not liking the worried look in his sister's eyes. He could get through this, he already knew that, now it was just a matter of doing it.

What Malik didn't know was that Isis had called his name three times before recognition had even registered in his eyes. He had just been staring at the table with a completely blank look on his face. Like someone had clocked out and forgot to clock back in. Even though Isis wanted to press further to see if Malik really was okay, she backed off and let Malik eat his breakfast in peace. She figured that it would be nice for him not to be pressured to answer questions for a little while before he had to go through the court system.

"What time do you have to leave for work?" Isis looked at Malik in shock as he asked the question.

"You didn't honestly think I would go to work instead of staying home with my long-lost baby brother, did you? I'm not going to work today. I'm sure they'll understand."

Malik laughed, even though on the inside it hurt just a bit to act all happy. "I can't imagine you going through a day without doing some kind of work. Did you ever take a day when I was…Don't worry, I was planning on coming with you." He fidgeted and looked down. "If that's alright, of course."

Shock ran through Isis again. Since when did Malik act insecure? He had always been the most confident boy, and he never second guessed on himself. Maybe her little brother had changed more than what was showing on the surface. The thought alone worried her. If Malik was bottling up all his emotions, how long will it be until that bottle got too full and he falls apart? That was what happened with their father after all…

While Isis was wrapped in her own thoughts, Malik was in the middle of forcing down another bite of pancakes when he was hit with another flashback.

_Malik turned up the music in his headphones, doing his best to block out his sister's yelling and pounding on the door._

"_Malik! You open this door right now! Don't you ignore me!" There was silence for a few seconds and Malik looked up from his bed, removing one earbud to stare at the door. The next words were just above a whisper, but Malik heard them loud and clear even with the music playing. "It's his anniversary, Malik. The least we could do for him is visit his grave." Malik felt a tightening in his throat that signaled he was about to cry. He swallowed past it. "We could visit Mother too while we're at it…"_

"_I'm not going anywhere near that bastard's grave! Why should I?" Malik stiffened when he heard a key slide into the lock on his door._

_Isis walked in, triumphantly holding up the spare key she had. "He's our father, Malik. Even if he wasn't very pleasant after Mother's death, he still cared about us."_

"_Very _pleasant_? Still _cared_?" Malik scoffed. "That man stopped caring about us the moment he identified Mom's body." Anger flashed through him and he stood up, pushing past Isis and walking to the front door of his apartment._

"_You can't run forever, Malik!"_

_Malik opened the door, glaring over his shoulder at his sister. "You don't understand! You never did and you never will! So just let it go already!" He slammed the door and stormed down the stairs, leaving the complex without any specific idea as to where he was going._

Malik stared down at his pancakes, no longer hungry anymore. He pushed his plate away and looked up at Isis, who appeared to be lost in thought. "So can I come with you?"

"Of course, Malik. There's nothing in the world that would stop me from leaving you alone."

Malik smiled and stood up. "I'll go get ready then!"

They left the apartment fifteen minutes later, and Malik was walking down the hall when Isis called for him to stop. He turned around and watched as Isis knocked on the door across the hall from their apartment.

"I know you're awake, Marik! Stop being lazy and get out here." There was a moment of silence before the door unlocked and Marik stepped out, grumbling about how life was unfair and there should never be a thing called sunrise.

Malik laughed and Marik's grumbling stopped as he looked over and saw Malik. "He's coming along?"

"Yes, now come on, we're already late."

The three walked down the stairs and out to the parking lot and Malik didn't even notice the two pairs of eyes on him when he suddenly stopped and stared out at the street with a distant look.

_Malik walked down the street, not really caring about the eyes that he knew were watching him. Without thinking, he had wandered into an area of Domino that wasn't exactly safe. There were catcalls and whistles thrown in his direction, but he heard none of it, his mind still blazing from what Isis had said._

_What did she know about their father? The bastard had never hit her, oh no, she looked too much like their mother. But Malik? He was an open target._

_Malik sighed and slowed his walk a tiny bit. Then again, he hadn't needed to explode on her._

"_Hey, blondie, what's a cute-ass boy like you doing around here?"_

Malik shook himself out of the memory and looked over at Marik and Isis, his face starting to burn when he realized they were staring at him. "What?"  
Neither answered, but shared a glance before walking to the car. Malik rolled his eyes in annoyance and followed, climbing into the back seat when he saw that Marik had taken the front.

They reached the station after a short car ride and Malik climbed out, happy to see Ryou climbing off the motorcycle Bakura had just parked.

**((((((LINE))))))**

Yugi stared down at the countertop, listening to the regular quiet of the game shop. It was around one in the afternoon, so the after-school rush was still at least two hours away. His grandfather hadn't allowed him to do much, but he wanted to help, so he was stuck behind the cashier since neither would budge.

The bell above the door of the shop rang as someone walked in, but Yugi didn't pay them any attention. If they wanted to buy something, they would ask or bring it in front of him. It wasn't how he had started the day, though. Before, he would greet every new customer with a smile, but now he was tired and he kept thinking about his friends.

"Yug'!" Before he knew it, he was in a headlock and there was laughing and crying and Yugi looked up to see Tea, Duke, and Tristan surrounding him, and when he tilted his head more, he could see Joey with his arm wrapped around his neck. "You're back!"

Tea wiped at the tears in her eyes, but they kept on coming. "Of course he's back, Joey. Yugi would never leave us behind."

"Tea…"

"You'll never believe it, Yugi. My game totally took off in America! It's a big hit." Yugi looked over at Duke, who had his arm wrapped around Tristan.

"It's really good to see you again, Yugi." He focused on Tristan, who was smiling sadly. "But Grandpa didn't tell us anything about where you were. Are you okay?"

There was sincere concern in his eyes, but Yugi had to look down again, not even noticing when Joey released his head. "I'm sorry…"

Suddenly, he was surrounded by warmth, and he blinked past his tears to see his friends all hugging him. They all had their arms wrapped around him, and they were all looking at him with sympathy. "Don't apologize for anything, Yugi. We all love you." Tea spoke up first and Joey picked up where she stopped. "Yeah, Yug'. We might not know the whole story, but we do know that you were hurt." Duke was next. "You might never be able to tell us what happened these last six months, but that's okay. We'll do everything in our power to make you feel better." And finally, Tristan. "You're strong, Yugi. But just know that we'll always be here for you."

He knew he shouldn't feel uncomfortable around his friends, but there were so many arms touching him and he couldn't help but think of times when less than friendly arms were wrapped around him. It made him feel dirty and he hated having that feeling with his friends. Yugi dropped his head into his hands, crying, really crying, for the first time since he was rescued. His friends were always there when he needed it the most. They all tightened their grip around Yugi as he sobbed, not asking questions or pestering, but just being there as a pillar for Yugi to lean on until he could stand up on his own.

His friends stayed at his house for almost four hours, and the subject of Yugi's kidnapping was never brought up. They just filled Yugi in on everything that had happened while he was gone, cheering Yugi up with older memories whenever it looked like he was going to cry.

Then, Tea had to leave for a dance lesson and Duke and Tristan had a meeting with the embassy of some company who wanted to bring Duke's game to Russia. Joey was the last to leave, and only at Yugi's insistence that he needed time alone. And he thought he would finally get it as he sat down behind the counter once again, looking at the clock and realizing it was past five and that his grandfather must have handled the rush of school students on his own. Probably like he had for the last six months…

He ducked his head again and left the counter, going into the backroom to restock the shelves. He needed something to keep himself occupied. Yugi was refilling the shelves with Duel Monsters booster packs when he heard the bell over the door ring.

"Yugi?"

Yugi stiffened in shock and turned around to see Yami standing in front of him. "Y-Yami? You're here?" He felt like smacking himself in the face. Of course he was here, Yugi could see that for himself, couldn't he?

"Ryou and Malik came to the station today, I-we wanted to check on you." He smiled at the younger. "Are you doing okay?"  
Yugi nodded his head and went back to restocking the shelves. "Yes, I'm fine." Please, just leave. Yami was so nice and he wasn't used to it, and it sent a chill down his spine every time the man talked.

Yami placed a hand on Yugi's shoulder, but quickly let go when he felt the resulting flinch. "Are you sure, Yugi?" He paused, as if trying to read Yugi's thoughts by staring at the back of his head. "Isis thought it best if all three of you went to go see a therapist. Out of all the people in Millennium, only you three agreed to go to court…everyone else has already gone home and wants to forget about this." There was a tone of annoyance in his voice and Yugi almost cracked a smile. What would it be like to be able to forget about this? To go on with his life as if the last two years of his life had never happened?

There was silence and Yugi realized Yami was waiting for an answer. "Oh-uh-yeah, I'll go see someone. I think my grandfather was planning on having me do that anyways."

"Good." Yami nodded and took a step forward, and Yugi was suddenly aware of how close the man was. "Hey, do you want to come back to the station with me? I'm sure Ryou and Malik would love it if you did."

Yugi hesitated, he wasn't sure if he wanted to see the friends he made at Millennium. If he just backed off a little at a time, put everything in the past, then after the trial maybe things would be normal again. It hurt him to think that, and it felt like he was betraying Ryou and Malik, but he would do anything not to see that sad look in his grandfather's eyes again.

It seemed as if Yami took his silence as a no, so he turned to leave. "Well, I guess you don't have to. See you around, Yugi."

"Wait!" That wasn't what he wanted at all! Malik and Ryou were his friends and he could never turn his back on them. In his rush to stop Yami, he dropped the booster packs he had been holding and the man turned around, staring at the cards wrapped in foil on the ground. "I-uh-I was going to say I'd like to come with you-to see Ryou and Malik that is." He blushed and bent down to pick up the cards, his blush growing when tanned hands joined his.

"Alright then. We'll clean this up and go tell your grandfather where we're going."

Yugi nodded and it wasn't long until all the packets were picked up. Yami stood up first and offered a hand to help Yugi up. "C'mon, little one, let's go see your grandfather." Yugi took his hand and was shocked by the strength of the pull that yanked him to his feet and launched him towards Yami.

Their chests collided and Yami wrapped his arms around Yugi to keep his balance. "Are you alright, little one? I apologize for pulling so hard." The words were spoken next to his ear and he couldn't help the shiver that went through him.

He turned his head to the side to look at Yami at the same time Yami turned his head to look at him. Their noses brushed and their lips connected, and for Yugi, the entire world stopped.

**((((((LINE))))))**

**SW: Hooray for yaoi developments!  
Yami: *smirk* Ha. I got kissed first.**

**Bakura: Fuck off, Pharaoh.**

**SW: Woah, let's try and keep the author's notes nice.**

**Bakura: You can fuck off too.**

**Ryou: He's just jealous, don't worry about him.**

**Review please!**


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